Blood Honour
by TheNightIsYoung
Summary: Could you ever turn a Strigoi back? Sequel to Shadow Kiss; contains spoilers .
1. Chapter 1

_Could You Ever Turn a Strigoi Back?_

Five days ago, two life–changing things happened. The one that was pretty easy to come to terms with is that I, Rose Hathaway, had withdrawn from (and therefore could no longer be accounted for as a student of) St. Vladimir's Academy.  
Now, although I say "pretty easy"... well, heck. It wasn't easy; not in the slightest – but it was far easier than the other thing I had to deal with.  
Withdrawing from the Academy was already starting to get to me. –It wasn't that I ad necessarily enjoyed the school part of it, but I suppose the important thing to remember is that St. Vlad's isn't just a school. It becomes pretty much your whole life, no matter who you are. My biggest loss – the one that had been gnawing away at me from the moment I had set foot outside the Academy gates – was, well, _everything_. The loneliness was driving me insane. We're not talking about the morbid teen's view on solitude, either; this was the real, raw deal. To be honest with you, though, I hadn't realised how _dependent_ I'd become on the people around me. It occurred to me, now, that I could no longer lean on people like Adrian, or Father Andrew, or Lissa.

Ah, _Lissa._ Since I'd left, I hadn't heard a single word, or for that matter, felt any of her emotions, through the bond we shared. She'd blocked me off, just as she had done during Jesse's stupid initiation ritual, and this time, I hadn't fought to break it. Aside from that, I'd figured – and I wasn't absolutely certain, just speculating, because I'd never actually been this far away from Lissa since I'd been shadow kissed – that maybe her stream of thoughts and emotions resembled something of a sound wave: the further I got away from her, the longer it'd take to hear her, and the less I would actually be able to hear, until a point... like now... when there was nothing.  
For all I knew, anything could be happening back at the Academy, but try as I might, once realisation hit, I couldn't dissuade myself from the fact that Lissa might not have forgiven me for leaving her. In fact, without anything else to fill the space in my mind where she usually filtered in, our last conversation lingered there as a cruel, cold taunt, resounding over and over.

And then of course, there was the other thing. Five days ago, I'd gotten sick of waiting; I got off of my ass, stopped moping, and decided that I had to kill him. _Dimitri_. Saying his name, thinking it... it hurt. After that initial week of inevitable break-down, I'd started to rebuild myself, though it really wasn't quite the same. There was a hollow space in my heart where my memories of him had merged together to form this heartbreakingly beautiful image, so real that when I closed my eyes, I would feel myself reaching out to touch him... and then crash back down to Earth when my hand went straight through him and into this horrible, dark abyss that he'd left behind when he'd been taken from me.  
Of course, even now, it's hard to go on. Over the past five days I've found that whenever I stumbled across him in my thoughts, I'd frozen in my tracks and burst into a fit of unrestrained, uncontrollable tears.

But behind the emptiness, the loneliness, the despair... there was a whole different world of emotions. I felt determined, slightly fearful (-understatement!); there was a certain anticipation building up inside of me, and of course, "completely exhausted" could by no means capture just how shattered I was feeling.

It was probably that complete certainty and determination that had kept me going, so far. I knew in my heart that this had to be done; that if in some parallel world, Dimitri had been in my shoes and I had been turned into the cold-blooded, soulless, remorseless killer, he'd do exactly the same for me.  
We'd had this discussion, Dimitri and I. We'd both agreed that "living" as a Strigoi – if you could actually call it that – was much worse than death itself; and in fact, in comparison to losing your soul, death seemed like something you'd happily embrace without a shadow of a doubt, at all. And I suppose I was also determined to come back alive, but that was just one great big "if". _If_ I killed him, I could go back to the Academy, persuade the old idiots to let me back on, graduate at the top of my class, become Lissa's guardian, and then... and then slowly rebuild my life.

On the other hand, my fear was slowing me right down. I sometimes didn't even feel like my powerful Guardian dhampir self. I felt like a vulnerable teenage girl; the type you read in those petty romance novels, and a coward. But my fears had me beyond the point of caring about what I thought of myself, and that was upsetting. This was the sort of fear that was enough to make my heart stop altogether.  
I wasn't scared that I was going to have to face off possibly tens of Strigois. No, actually, in a twisted way, that excited me beyond belief. What really terrified me, then, was _him_. –Dimitri... as a Strigoi. My enemy, and my lover, who may still have my heart completely. I had anticipated seeing him for the first time, but it would still be difficult; what would be the difference? His eyes? His teeth? Would I care when I saw him? Would I want to be with him again? I knew that he would remember me and what had happened between us... but he wouldn't, _couldn't_, know those memories the way I didn't; wouldn't _feel_ them. Would everything that had taken place between the two of us be mere _words_ to him? Would he mock me, and use everything we'd shared as an advantage against me?  
Or was it at all possible that perhaps, as if by some heavenly miracle, he still felt for me what I felt for him? What would happen, then? Could I really bring myself to kill the man who was still human enough to love me? The realist part of me roared with a cold and mirthless laughter that shook me down to my inner core. This was real life; not some stupid vampire romance flick.

Stumbling to an unsteady halt in my tracks, completely overcome with exhaustion, I collapsed onto the grass. I'd spent my days on the road with no sleep, and with little food and water. I had admittedly hitchhiked part of the way, but since leaving the Academy, I'll confess to being a lot less trustworthy of people in general. They made me uncomfortable, the way they stared; it felt like they were going to morph into Strigoi at any moment.  
The last guy I'd hitchhiked with had told me that the airport wasn't too far, and that I should just "follow the road". Blood idiot. Once he'd dropped me off, I'd started walking... and carried on walking... and still went on... and the airport was nowhere in sight - and now, here I was, standing on some random hill in Missoula, at midnight.

Today had been pretty normal. I was in town, at last; I'd found the bank, and a bunch of clothes stores, and re-outfitted myself in something more suitable. I'd bought a few snacks for my journey to the airport and...

Just then, an approaching car snapped me out of my reverie. I staggered to my feet, waving frantically. The torch in my pocket was whipped out and I started sending morse code messages for the car to slow. The chances were that the driver had no idea what I was saying; but it comforted me all the same, so I did it.  
The gravel crunched as the car slowed to a halt. Its tinted windows and sleek appearance intimidated me slightly, and the guy behind the wheel, wearing sunglasses and a dark suit only furthered that.  
All the same, he'd stopped, so I pulled the door to the passenger seat open and clambered in.

"Where you off to?" he asked. No bothering with the pleasantries; not that I was complaining.  
"Siberia," I told him bluntly.  
"Well I'm no genius, but I'd say that's gonna be one heck of a drive." I looked blankly on him before it dawned upon me what he'd said.  
"Oh, right. Can you get me to Missoula airport?" He chuckled.  
"Uh-huh. Lucky you, I'm headed there right now. What's your name, kid?" I paused, not really wanting to tell him.  
"Errm... Lissa." - I don't know why I said that. It just came out.  
"Nice to meet you, Lissa. I'm Mark." I stifled a yawn.  
"You mind if I sleep for a bit? It's just... I've been walking for most of today."  
"No problem. I'll wake you up when we're about a half hour away."

I yawned again, not bothering to hide it this time. Mark gave a small, throaty laugh. And then, for the first time in days, I was able to drift into a sound sleep, in some stranger's car.

* * *

I awoke to sunlight streaming the windscreen of a strange car that I did not recognise. Then I finally recalled the man named Mark, who had given me a lift, and had promised he would wake me up a half hour before we arrived.  
Why I hadn't been woken up before now, I do not know. I looked around, seeing a massive car park that couldn't have been anything _but_ the airport car park. Unsteadily, I clambered out into the morning air. I could hear Mark mattering down a phone.

"I'm telling you -- no, she says her name's Lissa! As in _Vasilisa_ -- I dunno, maybe she dyed her hair. That's got to be her..."

I blinked. He was talking about me. Did he think I was _Lissa_? Was he worling for the Strigoi? I swore loudly, making him start, and then I ran for it. I could hear him calling after me, and all of a sudden, I became aware of other people moving through the morning crowds... towards me.

* * *

Reviews would be much appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

_I could hear him calling after me, and all of a sudden, I became aware of other people moving through the morning crowds... towards me._

---

I, as a guardian, had a few problems with this little predicament. Sure, I acknowledged after the attackers got close enough for me to take a good look at them: they _weren't_ Strigoi, unless the vamp clans had actually decided to invest in contact lenses.  
No, they were human. I didn't know whether or not I should be worried; horrified. Since when did the Strigoi have _humans_ working for them? That was seriously so messed up. I shook my head, horrified. They were closing in on me.  
So, I knew they were human. That was a comfort. I was better, stronger, faster than all of them put together. It was actually the sort of being in a massive crowd that worried me. I couldn't go into complete frenzy mode in public... so, what did I do?

My name is Rose Hathaway. I'm the most well-known, badly reputed novice – or now, ex-novice – at St. Vladimir's Academy, and I've kicked many a Strigoi ass. What did I do? I _ran._ I turned and ran like a bat out of Hell, which is why 24 hours later, I could be found stumbling across _another_ long and winding road, towards _another_ airport.

There was a cold, biting wind that rattled my bones, and made me shudder; made every step forward even more difficult. I was tired, and I felt extremely stupid for feeling that I should be able to trust the people I hitch-hiked with.  
The skies overheard were filled with the dull roar of plane engines as the great machines lowered themselves to the ground. I knew I wasn't too far away now. Even so, I'd been running for an awful long time, and I felt exhausted.  
I trudged up to the entrance, after about another 45 minutes' walk. I'd watched the cars pass by with a longing expression for the feel of soft leather, even if it would only be for a couple of minutes. – But I couldn't let that happen again. I dragged myself to front reception. The woman there looked at me disgustedly.

"Can I help you?" She asked, wrinkling her nose slightly as though I were a bad smell. I narrowed my eyes, and cleared my throat.  
"Yeah, I need you to stop gawking like you've never seen _travellers_ before. And I need a flight to Siberia," I told her shortly. She blinked, frowned, and then turned to her computer screen, and began hammering various keys.  
"We've got a couple of flights headed over in about three hours... to Omsk, Yakutsk, and also to Kyzyl, today. Where abouts are you looking to go?" I paused. _Where was I going?_ "You do know _where you're going_, don't you?" I hated the smug tone to her voice.  
"Yes, I _do_," I said curtly. "I'll be headed for Yakutsk, then."  
"Right," she said sceptically. She printed me out a ticket. "You'll be leaving from gate 18 in three hours, then." I snatched my ticket from her, nodded, and turned heel towards my gate. About a half hour later, whilst I was slumped in one of the chairs watching the departures screen intently, I decided I should find out where exactly I was headed. I pushed myself to my feet, seized up my bags and went to the nearest store.  
There was one of those annoying blonde girls behind the counter. I disliked her from the first sight of her. She was chewing on her lip, and filing her nails. She looked a mess.  
"Hullo," I said as politely as I could. She glanced up and observed me with distaste.  
"Hi..." she said vaguely.  
"I was wondering if you could help me," I probed her. She was _supposed_ to know this crap, wasn't she? But no. Useless idiot.  
"Yeah?"  
"Um, okay. Where abouts in Siberia is Yakutsk?"  
"I dunno. Do I _look_ like I know geology?"  
"You mean _geography_?"  
"Or that." Her eyes narrowed. "I don't know." She turned away indignantly.  
"Stupid cow," I muttered, and turned to leave...

Of course, walking straight into someone. A very solid someone. I looked up. _Damn_. A very... interesting looking someone. I ducked my head.  
"Excuse me," I said, trying to dart by him. He grabbed my arm.  
"Yakutsk?" I blinked.  
"Sorry."  
"You're going to Yakutsk?"  
"I am." His grip on my arm tightened.  
"I wouldn't go there if I were you."

The cashier was giving us a very strange look. Other customers, too, were glancing in our direction.  
"I think," I said slowly, "it would be sensible if we sat down and discussed this in more of a remote location." He nodded, although he still didn't let go. I allowed the stranger to haul me back into the airport lounge.  
When we'd reached an empty cluster of chairs, he let me go. I slumped into one of them and regarded the guy warily. He was tallish... quite good looking, tanned. His voice, I had noticed, had a familiar Russian lilt that sent a pang through my heart, even if I wasn't completely aware of it.  
The resemblance he bore to Dimitri struck me like a hard slap. My eyes were stinging, but I chose to ignore it.

"What's wrong with Yakutsk?" I asked him, deadpan. He sat down opposite.  
"I know who you are," he said. "I heard them say your name. You're in danger, Rose Hathaway. They've seen your face now. They know where you are, and where you're headed. They... they know your love. And they _want _to find you.  
"Now listen carefully. Yakutsk has had... an uprising," he continued swiftly, seeing my want to interrupt. "I do wish you'd sit still and listen. Yakutsk has had an uprising... of _their _lot. They're making dangerous moves. They're attacking for no reason. There have been occasions where they've attacked humans in public. We thought it'd never come to this.  
"We don't know what's happening. We fear the worst. We know they've been getting stronger... but somehow, their latest additions from your school have boosted them somewhat. They know you now. All of you are in danger. They can use their fledglings' memories... extract them brutally... some new development on their part..." he trailed off.  
"Okay hold up," I said. "So you're telling me that we're all in danger. I knew that anyway."  
"This is different. There'll be a lot more trouble now."  
"And why's that?" I asked.  
"Because..." a pained expression flitted across his face. "They have my cousin. — Your lover."

* * *

Phail for the short chapter T_T  
And sorry I haven't updated since I posted the first chapter... a very long time ago. I was really excited about this story, you see. The ending is going to be so epic... ohmygosh. Just thinking about it is getting me hyped up. However, I _am_ in year 11, so I am currently right in the middle of my exam period. This chapter right here is me procrastinating. I don't want to revise =(

Anyhow. Reviews will be much appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

So, funny story about my summary. I think I must've been half asleep when I wrote it, because I typed 'Blood' from 4th book title, and 'Kiss' from the 3rd book title. You know what I meant though, which is good. One reviewer did point it out and at the time I had no clue what this person was on about.... but now I've changed it.  
Okay, that wasn't funny.  
On with the chapter!

* * *

"I... I... I... _How do you know about me and Dimitri?_" Then I flinched. That damned name. His cousin flinched too. Apparently it was killing him as much as it was me. Then he smiled weakly.  
"My cousin wrote you a lot," he told me.  
"He wrote you letters about me?" I asked, confused.  
"No... He wrote to you. Letters. Hundreds of them. All in Russian... your school found them in a box in his room. They couldn't understand a word of it, so they thought they should call one of us. I sat there reading them for two whole days, and then I realised I had to find you. I stumbled across you at the airport yesterday, though you didn't notice. You were too busy running away."  
"Oh."  
"The school wanted to know what the letters said, but I wouldn't tell them a word of it. 'It's private matters,' I told them. I've actually taken a whole load of the few more..." he coughed lightly, "intimate ones with me, so they wouldn't know. And most of the ones that are _just_ romantic drivel. We wouldn't want anyone to see those now, would we? And they'll find a willing translator sooner or later... trust me.  
"Anyway... now the Strigoi have got him, they'll be taking him to Siberia, yes. Not Yakutsk, although it's probably better you didn't walk straight into their hands. They're looking for you, Rose. The Strigoi have found ways to access memories of their kind. It's a brutal process. I only know a little of what happens.  
"Once a dhampir turns Strigoi, they've found that the Strigoi's memories go to pieces. They can remember names and faces, and then over time, they remember much more detail. But the Strigoi have found this way of _tearing _the memories out and back into the new fledglings." His face looked stricken. "It's disgusting, and very painful, as far as I've heard. And it damages the fledglings unbelievably. They're doing it to him, though... they don't care that they're wrecking him, because they know all about his killings. They want to make him suffer, and then they want to use him, once they've brought his memories out. They want to make him kill you."

I blinked.  
"Okay then."  
"You're not bothered by this?"  
"Of course I'm bothered."  
"I'm sorry."  
"It's not you that needs to be. You said this memory thing damages them?"  
"It does. You know how Strigoi are when they first turn? They're mindless rouges, and they will kill for the sake of killing. This is a natural part of their change. It's something that has to happen for them to survive certain changes that start to take place. I'm not really sure how it works... no one _sane_ is. The memory extraction interferes with some of the changes."  
"I see." I stood up, straightening out my clothes. As if that made a difference. I ran my hand through my hair, looking wearily at Dimitri's cousin, who was also watching me with a concerned scepticism. "Thank you..."  
"Valik."

I turned to go.  
"Where are you going, Rose?"  
"I'm going to save Dimitri." Valik hissed and pounced up, grabbing my arm. It sort of hurt, and I wasn't fast to react as I usually was. Apparently being away from the academy had made me kind of slow.  
"Have you not been listening to a word I've said?" he asked. I noticed that the angrier he seemed, the thicker his accent became.  
"What you do expect me to do? Just sit there?" He shook his head.  
"No. Of course not. I expect you to listen to me, though, and come back with me to our base in Tolon. We will help you. Trust me."  
"You're going to turn this into some official operation, aren't you? And it will take _months_ to even kick off. And you'll have to consult the Academy. And then just out of the blue before we finally leave, you'll tell me that because I dropped out, I'm not trained enough to be a part of this operation. And then you'll all get killed or turned into Strigoi."

Valik frowned.  
"Why would we all get killed or turned into Strigoi?" I shrugged.  
"That seems to be happening a lot lately." He shook his head slowly.  
"You're every bit like he described you, Rose." He pressed a piece of paper into my hand. "Come and find us when you've made up your mind, Rose. And think carefully about it."

He released his vice-like grip on my arms and walked away. I wanted to call after him, and at the same time I didn't. By the time I'd made up my mind whether or not to, he'd already faded away into the crowds.  
My flight flashed up onto the screen. Time to get going.

Now the fun was _really_ starting, eh?

* * *

Another short chapter. You'll have to deal, though. I have a maths exam tomorrow. I only wrote this because someone reviewed telling me to get the next chapter up quickly. So I did a typical me-styled procrastination move and wrote the whole thing, just for you.  
So you can all review to make up for it!  
Please?


	4. Chapter 4

AHHH. J'adore mes petits reviewers!!! Thank you guys, for the MASSIVE and unnecessary (but all the same, very much appreciated ;]) ego boost. Ahh. Wow. You guys are so much nicer than the fictionpress people.

I hope this one lives up to everyone's expectations!

*

I wish so much I could say that something really dramatic happened on the plane, and that I was forced to parachute out — yes, parachute; I had magically whisked one out of thin air before jumping — and thus land gracefully on the ground, in a poised guardian way, shocking the hell out of bystanders... But life's no fairytale. And actually, I don't wish that. Sure it makes for a heck of a boring story, but let's be honest: I was grateful for the peace and quiet.

I boarded the plane without much hassle, aside from the dirty looks that the airplane staff kept shooting me. I figured I must've smelled bad or something. I hadn't washed in a while.

Anyway, what seemed like an age later, we landed in Russia. I've got to say I was quite grateful; I hated the idea for being boxed up that long. I mean, yeah, sure, they're okay for the shorter trips... but this one went on for hours.

Yakutsk was... cute. Everything was scenic, and just... well. I'm not sure how to describe it. It was colder, sure. That was understandable. But it also had this warm (strangely enough), homely feeling to it. It was the sort of feeling that led my mind astray, and brought a lot of regret welling up, as I desperately tried to push away thoughts of _him._

It wasn't snowing at the moment, though, which was the first thing that hit me. I'd always expected Siberia to be snowy... all year round. It really wasn't.

I made my way out of the airport, and walked down the road a bit. And then a bit more. This was dangerous, I realised. This wasn't exactly my home turf. I didn't have any idea when I'd start treading on the Strigoi territory.

Trees lined the road that I walked down, making my path very sure and certain. It somehow gave me this confidence. At least I was walking in a set direction. At least I hadn't been given a hundred turn-off points. This way, there were only two ways to go, and forward seemed a lot more sensible than backward.

A couple of miles down the road, there was a little copse in the trees, to one side, and this revealed a small field that probably had at one point, on warmer days (if there were any), been used as a football field.

Now it was empty. It seemed almost fitting. I liked it. I had nowhere to go. I was moving on a whim, and I didn't want the reality that I was lost to sink in just yet.

Instead I collapsed on the field, quite oblivious to anything around me, for a moment. I pulled out the piece of paper in my pocket, and looked at it. I must have seen it a hundred times over, when I was on the plane. I knew the number written there off by heart. Just looking at it, though. It gave me something. Some hope. It was hard to describe, because I was pretty sure that the officials there were going to be unfair and not let me partake in anything. But somehow, it was hope inducing... I mean, Dimitri's cousin worked there. How bad could it be? Not very. He seemed to have a certain.... he _reminded _me, just slightly, of Dimitri. His accent roped his words much more heavily. He wasn't so slight of figure, nor as finely crafted. But I could see the one I loved, somewhere in that face.

Regardless of how he looked, though, he was related to Dimitri and I couldn't help but feel that deep down, he had good intentions. That he really did want to help. Either way, though...

My thoughts trailed to an abrupt halt. The light had faded rapidly. Something was watching me. I clambered to my feet, glancing around.

"Hello?" I asked uncertainly. No one replied. "Is anyone there?"

"_Rosa, Rosa_," came the response. It _wasn't_ Dimitri. The accent was different; he pronounced it all wrong. My panic levels shot up, and I moved into high-alert mode, scanning the area.

Then I saw him. The blond Strigoi. I hissed.

"Now now, _Rosa_, play nice," he told me. I was suddenly aware of more Strigoi appearing out of nowhere. "After all, you're on our home turf now." There were too many of them... maybe eight. I knew I could barely take on one or two. I was going to die.

_Even so,_ I thought. _I can't let myself go down without a fight_. I pulled out my silver stake, watching the monsters rip out twisted laughs.

"She thinks she can fight," one of them laughed. He looked catlike, lazy. He moved with a certain twisted grace that screamed Moroi, but everything else about him said Strigoi. The speaker launched at me.

I whipped around, and took a gamble. I reckoned I _might_ be able to stake him, but I wasn't sure. I wrenched the knife upward as he tumbled over, and he yelped. The Strigoi dropped dead in front of me.

The blond one wasn't amused.

"Idiot," he hissed. "Always jumping into things..." He never got to finish. One of the other Strigoi had burst into flames. It shrieked, and then all hell broke loose.

The Moroi fighters appeared, and killed with a sickening efficiency. What shocked me was how they were actually _all_ Moroi... apart from one. One who grabbed me, and hefted me up into his arms before I could protest and say I was fine.

"Rose, you foolish girl," Valik growled. He pelted out of the fight, putting me down by the side.

"You should've known better than to leave her be," came a Moroi voice. A youngish guy, probably only a couple of years older than me, stepped out.

"Can you keep them away?" Valik asked. He seemed to have ignored the Moroi's comment. In response, the Moroi clicked, and the area between Valik and I burst into flame.

"Yep," he said.

"Oh for goodness' sake, Anton. Stop showing off, and just keep the girl safe," he snapped. He turned and ran back towards the fight, which the Strigoi seemed to be faltering in.

"If you ask me," the Moroi, Anton, muttered under his breath. "She's not worth the trouble."

About a dozen snide comments popped up into my mind, but I kept them to myself, instead shooting him an angry glare.

A few minutes later, things had quietened down substantially. I saw the blond Strigoi and a few others make a quick retreat. The Moroi did not pursue. Instead, they turned in the opposite direction.

"That's our cue," Anton said. He grabbed my arm and hauled me away from the field.

"What? Where are we going?" he looked at me like I must've been stupid.

"We're going back to base."


	5. Chapter 5

**Good morning to you all =)  
Well it's actually *checks time* evening. But hush.  
I have an exam tomorrow... but it's French writing. Can't really revise for that =) so I wrote this for you guys instead, to make up for the massive 3 month gap.**

* * *

"So what I'm ultimately confused about is why the Moroi were fighting," I told Valik, sitting by a small fireplace in his house. It was quite little, the place, but it was nice. I think the small size gave it a certain appeal. I was so used to the massive, looming Academy, that anywhere small seemed friendlier. "I mean, I thought Moroi were dead set against that."

"And what I'm confused about is why you were stupid enough to sit in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere at night. It makes me wonder if the kids are actually learning anything these days." Valik regarded me wearily, handing me a cup of tea. I set it down on the table beside me. "I mean, for a girl that's killed 3 Strigoi, plus taken part in some epic showdown and killed many more on top of those three... that really was stupid."

"Are you mocking me?" I asked, recognising how he'd mimicked my pattern of speech. He smiled faintly.

"Give the girl a prize. To answer your question, ever since the Court meeting for Victor Dashkov... people have been changing. Slowly but surely. They won't let anyone know about it; they're far too scared of what'd happen, were it to get back to the queen. But underground movements like the one you saw have been springing up quite a lot." He let it sink in, and then continued. "It's mainly the fire users. They were inspired by that Ozera woman. They love the idea of burning up Strigoi, so they've been practicing underground, too. And let me tell you — it's a novelty thing for them. They don't mind getting hurt, after being deprived of all the action. The men in particular. They love the big showdowns like today, and they love keeping count of it all. They're in constant competition with one another."

Slightly shocked, I nodded. I thought we'd been bold for taking Christian out with us. Apparently not. Valik sighed heavily and stood up.

"I've got to go and do a bit of damage control. The Academy here has been in communication with yours... and neither is particularly happy you've wound up here."

"I don't belong to an Academy any more," I said indignantly.

"I know. Even so... I'll get Anton to take you around the rest of base." He paused, looking strangely at me. "You've swapped to human times. You need to get back out of that. Drink coffee for now, if need be. You can sleep later."

He strode off.

"Gee thanks," I muttered under my breath. I stared boredly into the grate, at the unlit coal sitting in the mantle, starting when flames suddenly erupted. Anton snorted and sat down next to me.

"They told me I have to drag you around camp and make sure you're awake," he said vaguely. "Where do you want to go?"

"Well _I don't really know_ where there is to go. Isn't that why you're showing me around?" I asked snappily. Anton looked at me with this deadpan expression that sort of just said 'shut up'. I didn't continue rambling.

He was sort of like Christian, I got the impression. A bit too arrogant for my liking. Loved to play with fire. That summed the pair of them up.

"Right. Let's move, fatty." I froze and slowly turned an icy glare on him. He actually looked quite startled, for which I simply had to congratulate myself. _If looks could kill_.

".." I told him. There were icicles dripping off my words. He seemed to recover slightly, but still held a slightly scared expression behind the placid mask.

"You're not thin, either."

"I'm half human, you bloody bastard!" I shrieked. I was not in the mood for this, after being on a plane for God knows how long, and after being attacked by Strigoi, and killing one, and then being dragged away... and what's more, the extra molnija mark was itching like hell. I didn't hesitate to tell him this. His eyes widened.

"Alright, jeez. You're not fat. Either way, _shift_. We're walking." He turned, and practically sprinted out, and I swear I heard him say "you could use it."

I let out a dry sob before I followed after him. I don't really get why, but it was my way of letting out all my emotion. I couldn't cry... my eyes didn't seem to want to do that.

I shook my head, and let that stupid Moroi take me round.

*

"This is the Academy," he said in a bored voice. _This is where Dimitri trained_. "Those are classrooms." He pointed left, and then turned right, and led me down a passage lined with buildings on either side. "The right side is the Moroi dorms. The left side is for dhampirs. Ground floor is the common room; upstairs is the girls' dorms; basement is the guys' dorms. Any questions?"

I shrugged and shook my head. This guy was boring me. Anton rolled his eyes.

"I should start charging for this kind of thing," he muttered. "Through here," in a louder voice he told me, leading me past the dorms, "we have the elementary school. You're standing on part of the playground. In case that didn't occur to you."

A bunch of elementary kids glanced our way, and noticed me standing with Anton.

"Who's she?" One of them asked. Anton sighed exaggeratedly, answering in the same monotonous drawl he'd been using for the last half hour.

"This is Rosemarie Hathaway, famous American dhampir icon." More kids looked towards us at the sound of my name. My eyes widened; apparently I was an international hero to the kids, now. I couldn't help but remember Dimitri telling me about how I was a strong role model. The thought of him brought a silent tear running down my cheek.

"Hey, don't cry Rose. They're not _that_ scary," Anton said in this irritating stage whisper. Someone laughed. I didn't really care though. I had this image of Dimitri frozen there in my mind, and I let it take over me. I barely heard when he asked, "Rose?" in a somewhat worried voice. Then I didn't hear anything.

A couple of seconds later I was jerked back to reality, and found that the world had titled about 90 degrees since I last checked.

... Or I'd just fallen over. Anton's figure loomed over me, his face pale with a discomforted expression.

"Rose?" I shot him my best pissed-off-Rose look.

"That's me."

"Are you alive?"

"Is the sky blue?" He proffered a hand, pulling me to my feet.

"Actually it's sort of a dismal grey today."

"Oh... I guess not then." Anton looked at me critically.

"Don't say stuff like that. You'll scare the kids." I glanced around. The small crowd had now grown even larger, and they were all looking at me with the same stricken expressions. _Rose Hathaway just collapsed on the floor for no reason whatsoever_. I guess that'd be today's elementary school gossip.

"I...um..." I stared at them. What was I supposed to say? Anton cleared his throat.

"So, moving on then," he said in a loud voice. There were a few groans, but the kids seemed to get the picture. He turned heel and strode off back towards the dorms.

"What," he asked once I'd caught up, "on Earth happened?"

"I fell."

"I guessed that. Why?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," I said stiffly. He gave me an odd look, and then the expression on his face softened ever so slightly.

"Okay. I'm sorry." We carried on walking in silence for a bit.

"This is... this is..." he looked around. We'd walked right to the edge of a field, where I suspected the wards to be in place. "This is my place. No one comes out this far." I glanced around.

"Cool." It wasn't. It was a field. But he seemed right — no one was around for quite some distance, and it'd be pretty cool to be out here in the summer, I imagined. If there war one.

"Do you guys have a summer here?" I asked, suddenly. Anton looked at me like I was mad.

"Yes," he said, drawing the word out really slowly, like he was talking to a small child. "It's great here in the summer." He was looking around, up at the trees. "Valik and Dimitri used to come out here." I froze at the name. "Valik said they used to like to sit in the trees and revise for their exams up there."

"Uh-huh," I said, trying to keep my voice from cracking. Anton turned to regard me quite thoroughly.

"You knew Dimitri."

"I did."

"Valik says he loved you." I bit my lip to stop myself from sobbing.

"He did."

"Would you like to meet his mother and grandmother?" He asked. I paused. Dimitri's grandmother had been a fortune teller, like the woman at the Court. And... Dimitri's grandmother was also Dimitri's grandmother.

I wasn't sure. I was torn. I _wanted _to meet them... but if Anton knew about Dimitri and me, then what's to say that Dimitri's immediate family wouldn't know? And what would they think of me? I was terrified by the prospects.

I pushed this aside, though. Dimitri had loved them. He had missed them, I knew. And his grandmother could be able to help me.

"Sure," I told him. "I'd love to."

* * *

**Last chapter... 5 or 6 reviews I think? Pretty good.  
Let's try and beat 10 though =D that's how many I got for chapter 1.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I no longer feel bad for not updating for several months, after this chapter. It was _difficult_ to write. Enjoy.**

* * *

Dimitri's grandmother was a woman completely different than any I had met before. She wore that sort of old, eccentric look on her face that told you she _knew_ what she was saying, and you'd do well to remember that.

When Anton led me to her house, she was already standing there outside, hands on hips, waiting. She lived in a village not too far away from the base, and Valik had let me go, but insisted that Anton stay in close proximity at all times. It wasn't that he thought I'd get attacked by Strigoi, he told me. He said I had a lot of other reasons to be scared.

We approached the gate, and Anton stopped walking. I stopped beside him, not daring to take my glance off the old woman. I already feared her, and she hadn't spoken yet.

"Well..." Anton said. He looked uneasy. "After you, then." At this point, I did look at him.

"What?"

"Well yeah. You're going first," he told me, and nudged me in front of him. I stumbled. The old woman stared.

"You're so immature," I hissed, and straightened up. Nothing for it; I pushed open the gate, and walked over to where she stood. I almost said hello, but she fixed me with this piercing stare, as if to say _'shut up'._ So I did.

She stared at me for a good minute or so, until I felt quite awkward. Then I was saved by Anton, who tripped over a stone in his attempt to approach subtly. The woman's eyes flickered towards him annoyedly, and I swear he squeaked.

"Stupid boy," she snapped at him. Then she turned back to me, and of all things... she smiled. It was like some sort of magical transformation — it was like she'd become a whole other person. "Come in, child. We've long awaited you."

The entrance hall was densely clouded with a strong scent that I couldn't quite pick out. It smelt alien, and yet at the same time like I knew it. Another one of those "home" things that I seemed to stumble across. Something I knew, but that I didn't. Come to think of it, though, Dimitri's room had always smelt like this... not so overwhelmingly, but it did seem similar.

The old lady ushered me in, beaming, and almost closed the door on Anton who yelped in surprise. She rolled her eyes and muttered something in Russian that I didn't quite catch — probably some sarcastic remark — and let him in.

Anton huffed, obviously upset by the negative attention he was getting. The woman had stopped again, and was watching me quietly.

"Yelizaveta," she shouted, suddenly. Anton jumped from the sound, making the old woman chortle. "Yelizaveta, Roza's here. Dimka's devochka." I looked at Anton questioningly.

"She's calling to Dimitri's mother, Yelizaveta. She says you're his girlfriend," he muttered under his breath, trying to look, I assumed, inconspicuous. There was no reply from within the house.

"_Yelizaveta!_" she yelled. Still, silence. She sighed. "Come through, Roza. Anton, stop dawdling."

I snickered quietly at the blatant picking on Anton, and followed her in. The room that she led us into was small and elegant, with a wood floor, mostly covered by a worn rug that looked like it had seen years of use, and a low table in the centre with small cushions surrounding it. Pictures lined the wall of six or seven different people: two women, which I assumed to be the lady in front of me and Yelizaveta; and of Valik and Dimitri as well. I didn't recognise the other three, three women who only bore very slight resemblance to the rest. She sat on one side, and gestured for us to sit opposite.

"Hello, child. My name is Nadejda. I assume... Dimitri mentioned me to you." The pause before she said his name showed me she felt as much pain as I did. I nodded dumbly.

"So he _did_ tell you, then, who I am and what I do."

"Sort of. You're a... a... _vră_—"

"In Russia, we say _koldonja(_1)," she told me. "In Europe, they say _lamia(_2) — America, I do not know. Probably also _lamia_, but it's not the same for them. Not the same for you. In America, a _lamia_ is just another sort of witch... but I'm not quite a witch, child." She gave a small smile, and watched me absorb all this, nodding. "You remember Dimitri telling you, now."

* * *

Author's Note:

(1) _koldonja_: колдунья. I translated it to Roman lettering as best I could, using the Wikipedia article on the Russian alphabet. Apologies if I got it wrong.  
(2) I went onto the Romanian Wikipedia, searched _vrăjitoare_, and translated it into English on Google translate. (I then translated _lamia_ to get the Russian one.) I'm trusting Google that it _does_ mean _lamia_, but it probably doesn't.  
- Also, while I'm here... I don't know that _devochka_ is accurate, but from what I've learnt through relentless internet searches, it does seem to be near enough what I'm looking for.

* * *

"You can tell that?" I asked, quite surprised by how much she seemed to know of my life.

"My child, I know _a lot_ about _everything_. I can see, hear, _smell_ anything I will ever need or want to know from a mile off. I know everything I could want to know about you." I blushed. _Oh dear._ "Including that," she said, chuckling. I was pretty sure, now, that I was close to a tomato red. Anton, who had been sitting quietly, now perked up.

"What? What's this?" he asked.

"None of your business, boy. Pipe down," Nadejda snapped. "Would you like some tea, dear?" she asked me. On the table, she already had a small black teapot sitting next to her. I thought it would be impolite to decline, and I was quite scared of her because of her general reaction to Anton.

"Yeah... yes, please," I replied. Nadejda rolled her eyes, and pulled out some cups from one of the cabinets along the wall.

"Enough with the formalities, Roza! I know you inside out — and I know you're not like this _at all_. I think _I_ should be more scared of _you_." She smiled. "You remind me of myself you know, when I was young. All fired up and ready to go. You've got that guardian spark to your soul, I see. You're good at what you do." She pushed one of the cups towards me, another towards Anton who picked it up in silence and sipped slowly from it, staring with intense concentration at the wall ahead of him. The third, she kept for herself, though as she poured a fourth, she shouted, "Yelizaveta!" once more.

"So, child, do you know why you are here?" she asked, after she had finished serving up the tea. I sipped thoughtfully on my tea.

"Anton suggested it would be a good idea," I replied, looking to try and push him back into the old woman's good books. He glanced over at the sound of his name, and Nadejda looked at him appraisingly.

"The boy did something right for once then," she laughed. She looked back over to me. "But that's not really why you're here, Roza. Think about it carefully."

"I need help to find Dimitri," I said, after some pondering.

"Why?" she pressed. She knew the answer, I realised. She wanted to know how I'd say this. How devoted I actually was. She wanted to her it from me.

"Dimitri told me he would rather die than become a Strigoi. That Strigoi are soulless monsters, and whilst they might _look_ like the people we once knew, they aren't. Not anymore," I told her quietly. She nodded.

"So you want to know how to kill my grandson?" she asked. I flinched at the sheer brutality of her bluntness.

"I want to know how to carry out what he asked of me."

"But he didn't ask you specifically."

I cracked. I stood up, slamming my cup down. The still full fourth cup sloshed around and spilled slightly. Nadejda looked at me with sheer shock on her face; Anton looked terrified.

"What do you want of me?" I snarled. "What's this game you're playing? What are you aiming to achieve?"

"Sit down, Rose," hissed Anton. Nadejda simply looked at me, then at my empty teacup... and then back at me again. She picked up the teacup, and stared into it for a long period of time.

"Destined to achieve the impossible. That's _very_ interesting."

* * *

** 7 reviews, you guys! Not bad :D  
HOWEVER. This chapter was _evil_. So, let's try and boost that 7 up a tad, shall we? I won't update 'til you do :P**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7, people. Enjoy!**

_

* * *

_

Nadejda simply looked at me, then at my empty teacup... and then back at me again. She picked up the teacup, and stared into it for a long period of time.

"_Destined to achieve the impossible. That's very interesting."_

*

She put the cup on the table, and sat quietly for a moment. I waited, frozen in complete shock at what she said. Anton was looking from me to Nadejda, to me and back at Nadejda again.

We stayed completely silent for what seemed like an age. Hesitantly, she picked the cup up again. She peered into it once more, frowning slightly as she did so.

"_YELIZAVETA!_" She screamed suddenly. Anton and I both started. "Excuse me a moment, child. I need to go and find my daughter," she told me. She snatched up the cup and hurried out of the room. I could hear her shouts and calls resounding in the hall as she went to look for Dimitri's mother.

"Did she just say...?" Anton asked me in a low voice. I snapped out of the trance I seemed to have fallen into and sat back down.

"Yeah," I said. I was in shock. "I think she did." Anton shook his head.

"That's impossible, though, Rose," he told me. "You know it is. I think the old woman's finally cracked up." I glared and thumped him. He yelped in pain.

"Don't say that about her, and stop being an idiot."

We fell silent again. Minutes passed, and eventually Nadejda hurried back in, this time with a middle-aged woman tailing her. I assumed this to be Yelizaveta, Dimitri's mother, for the simple reason that she bore an uncanny resemblance to her son, in terms of her face — she had his hard eyes, his soft smile, his angular set of bones. I stood up as she entered, and she came over and drew me into a tight embrace.

"Roza," she whispered. Her voice sounded so musical, so sincere. I was entranced. Finally, she broke away from me, and sat down next to Nadejda. Her face was tear-stained, but she wore an excited, even anxious smile.

"Roza, there's no mistaking it," Nadejda told me. "I'm not going to pretend I'm not shocked about this. I didn't think it would be possible. I'm going to need to do more readings, and try and go into this a bit. But the world, the natural forces... they are telling me. You are my grandson's saviour. You shall deliver him from evil."

"How?" I asked, my voice scarcely audible. "How it that possible?"

"I'm not sure," the old woman said hesitantly. "I've never... _never_... heard this before, in my lifetime. I've never heard it at all. This is something entirely new. This... you could revolutionise the defence lines against Strigoi. You could save not only our Dimitri, but _everyone_, Moroi and Dhampir alike. You have been marked, my dear child. You have been chosen." I grew frustrated.

"How, though? That doesn't explain anything at all! How am I chosen? Because I'm shadow-kissed? Because I've seen the 'dark side' and I know its weaknesses? Strigoi aren't even dead! They're _undead_. I can't..." I trailed off. "I can't possibly... I'm not meant to save us all." I choked back a sob. "Don't you see? I want an ordinary teenage life. For once, I don't want to be killing monsters or guarding princesses. I want to be me."

"And what happens if this life _is_ meant for you, Roza? Tell me that. How can you deny your fate, when it's written out in front of you?" returned Nadejda. She was using this no-nonsense, almost scary tone. "This _is_ you." I paused at this.

"Even so... even if it were... I don't know how... you know. How to..." I was fumbling for words, and Yelizaveta's interruption saved me. Sort of.

"I do!" she exclaimed suddenly. We all looked at her questioningly. Her face had brightened immensely; she no longer seemed upset at all. "I know — oh God, I know. There was... Mat'(1), do you remember... the woman in the village? The madwoman." She frowned, trying to recall. "Arine! Do you remember Arine?"

* * *

(1) Original text: Мать, meaning "mother"

* * *

Nadejda nodded slowly.

"Yes, I remember her. Completely off her rocker, that woman. What about her?"

Yelizaveta then launched into a massive explanation in Russian, so I had no idea what she was telling Nadejda. Neither of them were giving much away, apart from when Nadejda squeaked out a loud, _"what?"_, before continuing back on in Russian. Anton, on the other hand, I could see was quite sceptical, then shocked... and then completely and utterly horrified.

"That's absurd," he breathed.

"What is?" I asked. He glanced at me sharply. Nadejda and Yelizaveta seemed to remember we were still here, and turned back to us.

"One of the things we who stay in the villages as opposed to going to train as a Guardian tend to pick up on is a lot of cultural history, and all of the old folklore and myths and such. Quite often, we see parts of our history being mirrored in present day, and it makes for such good gossip in the village...

"Anyway, there aren't any about changing Strigoi as such, but there is a fluctuation - if you'll call it that - in one of the old tales written down. One of the people in the story starts out as a monster — a Strigoi — and then just randomly, part way through he's a Moroi. No one knew how that happened, and everyone just assumed that the error was... I don't know. That it was a mistake.

"There's this madwoman down at the village, called Arine. Everyone thinks she's mad, because she tells the most absurd stories. We honestly thought they were all lies. Now, Arine's a human. No one knows how she ended up living with us dhampirs... she just did. No one questioned it, because people tend to show up and leave randomly around here. Anyway, we're all talking one day... there's a massive group of us. And Arine comes running out at the mention of Strigoi. Everyone by this point knows Arine is mad, but we decide to humour her, and she talks about how she's seen with her own two eyes, a Strigoi changing into a Moroi."

My eyes widened. "How does that work?" I asked. Yelizaveta shook her head and shrugged.

"I can't remember. She didn't go into too much detail, I don't think, and aside from that... she was insane. No one cared to pay attention to the things she had to say. Everyone just thought she was delusional — she did start having all kinds of crazy hallucinations at some point. So I have no idea what she actually said... only that she _did _say it was possible. I think... she's still around," Yelizaveta told me.

"Crazy as ever," Nadejda added.

"Completely. But she's still alive. We have to find her, Roza! We have to go and find Arine _now_ and make her tell us!"

Beside me, Anton stood up sharply, gripping onto my sleeve and hauling me up with him.

"That," he said in a low voice that made him sound quite dangerous, "is quite enough." I pulled away from him.

"What the hell?" I asked, annoyed.

"Well for starters, you're not even a guardian. This isn't part of your work, since you haven't even graduated. Secondly, I think that even though you don't seem it, you're actually _a lot_ smarter than you're letting on — too smart to be following _this_ crap. And finally, we actually _have_ to leave."

"And why's that?" I asked, scowling.

"Because," he returned steadily. "If we don't, Valik _will_ send out a search party looking for us."

"Screw this," I muttered. I looked towards Nadejda and Yelizaveta, who shrugged sombrely.

"Roza, if you have to go now, then go," Yelizaveta told me. "But please — I implore of you, please. You have to come back. You will come back, won't you?" I nodded silently. "I promise you, I will try and contact Arine. I'll find out as much as I can for you. Just... come back."

"I'll be doing more readings too, child. We'll find out exactly what we need to, and we will see you too. Just — next time, try and ditch the escort." She shot Anton a filthy look, to which he nodded curtly.

"Right. We're going." Before I could think to say anything else, he dragged me off.

We headed back to the Academy in silence. The sun was beginning its descent, casting off a soft orange glow across the village.

"Bloody insane," Anton muttered.

"What's that?"

"I can't believe you actually believe that crap." I clenched my fists at my side, and kept on walking.

"You know you would too, if you were in my shoes." I whispered. I don't know if he heard; if he did, he didn't give anything away. The Academy gates loomed overhead and my newest prison welcomed me home.

* * *

**Reviews?**


	8. Chapter 8

**You guys, I actually love you :D Thanks for reviews. Also, I've got polls up -- go answer!**

* * *

Valik greeted me with a wrinkled nose.

"Where'd you go, Rose? You were away ages. We were getting worried." He glanced towards Anton, and shook his head. "And God, Anton. You couldn't have pointed out the bathrooms to her before you left, could you?" He shrugged.

"You never _asked_ me to. Although... she does smell disgusting, doesn't she? How long do you reckon it's been since she last had a shower?"

I stood listening to this, hands on hips and a disbelieving expression on my face.

"Hello?! I'm right here, you know!" Anton looked at me.

"So sorry," he said. "So, how long has it been since you last had a shower?" I rolled my eyes and let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Well, it _is _a reasonable question," Valik chipped in. I could tell he was trying not to smile, and although he was doing a good job of it, his eyes has this mischievous glint that gave him away. "Anyway, talk later, wash now. Anton, go make yourself useful — show Rose where she can go and clean up."

"I only just got back! What do you mean 'go make yourself useful'? People these days." He shook his head, tapped me on the shoulder to signal we were going, and darted from the room, reeling off Russian curses that sounded similar to what Dimitri used to use. Valik laughed; his face creased up ever so slightly with laughter lines.

"You'd better run to catch up," he told me. "He won't even notice you're not there."

I grinned and ran out of the cabin, and down the path, where Anton was now striding purposefully towards the dormitories.

*

"You're not still mad about what I said, are you?" he asked, once I caught up. I had been, until we'd reached the Academy. He'd acted like it was a crime to give the old theories a chance. I'd been upset by that. But Valik seemed to have put me in a good mood, and my grudges lay long forgotten.

"Not really," I replied. Relief flickered across his face, but he immediately masked it. He nodded gruffly.

"Good."

We came to a stop outside a small building.

"Bathrooms," he told me, gesturing towards the door. I paused, looking at him, and raised my eyebrows. "What? What could possibly be wrong now?"

"These are _guys'_ bathrooms." He glanced at the door.

"Oh."

"And I'm a girl."

"I can see that."

"So now what?" He sighed.

"I don't know! I have no idea where the female dhampir bathrooms are! Okay _look_. You know what. Screw this hunting around for stuff." He grabbed my sleeve and pulled me towards the Moroi dorms.

"What? Where are we going?"

"My room."

"Why?"

"Because Moroi students get ensuite bathrooms." My jaw dropped.

"The dhampirs don't?"

"I thought that much was evident. They have the communal shower rooms. There are, from what I've heard, individual cubicles and stuff. But they have one room, as opposed to ensuites."

"That's not even fair." Anton rolled his eyes.

"No one said it had to be. Even so... are you coming?"

"Yeah, fine." I let him lead me down into the dorms. There were a bunch of Moroi students hanging around that fell silent when we came in. They were gaping at me like they'd never seen a dhampir girl before. One of them shouted something to Anton, to which he gave what sounded like a very curt reply. Then he dragged me off down the stairs and into the guys' dorm section.

It wasn't dark, like I had expected it to be. In fact, somehow they'd managed quite well to cast the illusion that it was actually just the ground floor. There was a courtyard outside that was well lit by the sun, and I could see the slopes that led down to it. They'd arranged the place quite well. Some part of me, though, suggested that the dhampir dorms weren't this pleasant.

"What did they say?" I asked. Anton paused outside a room and dug his hand into his pocket. He pulled out a small key and fumbled with the lock.

"Who?" My eyes flickered back towards the stairs. "Oh... never mind." He shoved the door open and let me inside.

"No, tell me."

"Unpleasant stuff. You don't want to know. Make yourself at home."

The room wasn't too small, but wasn't too big, either. It was a cute size, had two beds, two wardrobes...

"Who'd you share with?" I asked. I wandered over to the window, still quite bemused by the fact that they had this sort of a view, even when technically underground.

"I don't. I set the last guy's stuff alight, and then I never got a new roomie." I snickered.

"Fair enough," I said.

"Right. Shower's over there." I glanced where he was pointing; a small door at the far side of the room.

"Thanks."

"No problem. I'll be back in about half an hour." He turned to leave.

"_Wait_."

"Yeah?"

"Towels..."

"Right," he said. He came across to where I was standing, opening a drawer along the wall. "There you go. See you in a bit then, Rose."

He closed the door, and I snatched up a towel, pushed the drawer closed, and wandered into the bathroom. It, like the room, wasn't of an amazing size, but it was pretty cute. There were small windows at the very top of the wall, letting light from the outside world flood in.

The constant patter of water against my bare skin made me feel at ease for the first time in a while. The room filled with steam, and I came to drop my guard ever so slightly. Thoughts of Nadejda's readings and Dimitri slowly faded from my mind and I was calm. I breathed in deeply.

I don't know how much time passed, but eventually my skin began to pucker, so I thought it sensible to leave the streaming water behind. I clambered out of the shower, wrapping the towel around me. It then occurred to me, as I stared at my muddied clothing which I had piled up to one side of the counter in a crumpled mess, that I had no spare clothing with me. I cursed that I had managed to forget this, and then realised that I may actually have to venture out into Anton's room to "borrow" some of his clothing. I pressed my ear up against the door. No one there. Good.

Slowly, I unlocked the door and eased it open. Cautiously, I peered into the room. Yep, definitely safe.

_Where to begin, though?_ There was a wardrobe on the far side of the room, and I checked in there first. It was empty. Perhaps this had belonged to his roommate. Then I tried the dresser nearest the bathroom.

"Success," I breathed, pulling out a plain black t-shirt. This would do, for now. Underwear... that was embarrassing. How would I deal with this? I certainly wasn't going without. Rifling through more drawers, I found myself reddening. Anton happened to be a boxer guy, though, which I guess was less disturbing than it could have been. I slipped my newly found apparel on quickly, and was combing my fingers through my hair, when I caught sight of it. A small flash in the mirror. I spun around me, and there at the window...

_Shit._ There at the window was the blond Strigoi. He was smiling devilishly, and I was paralyzed with fear. I didn't know what to do. I stumbled backwards, ending up falling over, and I screamed.

Anton burst into the room moments, later. He found me in a sobbing heap on the floor. A group of Moroi, who had followed him down, were staring in shock and confusion at my wailing figure.

"Rose," he said, in a soft but firm voice. "Rose, what's wrong?"

"Strigoi," I whispered. My voice was strangled; I pointed a shaky finger to his window. Then I blacked out.

*

It is not cool for one of the most esteemed ex-trainee Guardians to pass out in a Moroi's room, I decided. Anton had had to heft me up on his shoulder, and carry me out through the common room, down past all the other students — Moroi and dhampir alike — to find Valik.

I awoke in a darkened room to the sound of hushed voices.

"She says she saw a Strigoi," Anton was whispering incredulously. "Then again..." his voice darkened. "I've never seen such a _real_ reaction. She can't have been lying."

"We checked the grounds," Valik returned. "Twice over. I'll be doing the final scout. I really don't... even if she _wasn't_ making it up. Maybe she's delusional."

It was so nice to know how highly people here thought of me, I told myself bitterly. Then a third voice chipped in, and my blood ran cold.

"You know, this happened to us. She was saying she was seeing ghosts, and nobody believed her. And then guess what? BHAM- we're attacked by Strigoi. So I'd really appreciate it if you _did not_ call my daughter delusional."

_Mom?!_

* * *

**Huzzah! Hope you enjoyed the chapter :D  
REVIEWS? Please?!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi guys. Against my better judgement, I've come to see my genius plan was actually not so genius. I have several reasons for removing option B of the story, which I shall outline:  
****- Firstly, that several people told me they felt slightly confused, or in one case, someone felt that A was better than B.  
****- Secondly, we all know what we want to happen, particularly in this fanfic.  
****- Thirdly, as far as I saw, no one actually reviewed for the option B chapter.  
****- Fourthly, I've decided that doubling my work was suicidal.  
****- And lastly, after some hefty scanning of the fanfic rules, I have come to realise that actually, I was going against them with this idea.**

**Sorry to anyone that liked the option B, then.  
****On with the story!**

* * *

_Mom?!_

"So what do you advise, then?" Came an unknown voice, with a thick accent. "Seeing as you're _so_ sure that your daughter is being honest?"

"I think you need your security checked." Chair legs scraped on the floor. "Check your wards, and check _who_ is monitoring them. We don't know who we can trust these days, do we?"

More chair legs. I think everyone in the room was on their feet at this statement.

"Are you suggesting that you think that _one of our Guardians is disloyal_, Ms. Hathaway?" Asked the unknown person in a clipping tone. I decided I didn't like him all that much. He sounded like one of those snobbish slimy gits that you saw in movies sometimes and just really wanted to kill.

"I'm suggesting that your security is sloppy. It could be your Moroi for all you know. People seem to be willing to do almost anything for money."

My mother appeared in the doorway and fixed me with a blank stare.

"Rose, you're up. Good. We need to talk for a bit." Valik and Anton appeared beside her; Valik gave a friendly smile. Anton was staring at the floor.

"Rose, we've got a room prepared for you. You gave us quite a scare, though. We carried out the full drills and... erm. Well Anton can show you up to where you'll be staying this evening." He nodded briefly, and turned heel, striding away from the room.

"Shall we go now, then?" Anton mumbled. Janine shot him an almost disdainful look.

"Yes, we shall. Stop dithering about, boy." I sort of felt sorry for the guy, to be honest. A lot of people seemed to love to hate him. Anton went slightly pink as I clambered off of the couch I had been on. My legs felt slightly unsteady, but I shook off the feeling.

We walked out into the evening in an awkward silence that sort of lingered over the three of us until Anton had shown us into a building, led us up three flights of stairs and unlocked the room they'd prepared for me. I was bunking in the guest quarters, it seemed. I wasn't used to this sort of luxury. I collapsed onto the massive bed and let out a huge yawn.

"How're you feeling?" my mother asked. I turned to regard her from where I lay. She was hovering by the door like she felt she shouldn't be in here.

"I'm okay..." I replied. I glanced away.

"You said you saw a Strigoi."

"I _did_ see a Strigoi. The blond one that was with the group that attacked us." She paused, but remained neutral.

"Really?" I huffed, rolling my eyes.

"You even said yourself; you don't think I'm lying." She smiled weakly, then.

"You heard that. How long were you awake?"

"Long enough."

She sighed, then, and sat down almost tentatively at the foot of the bed. She watched me for a while, in silence. I started to feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Was it worth it?" she asked me, suddenly breaking the silence.

"Sorry?"

"Was it worth it? Leaving the Academy, running away from your duty. Was it worth it?" I hissed out a breath, now annoyed.

"I was not running away," I told her.

"It was your sworn duty to protect Lissa. It was _your life_ duty. And you left it."

"It may have been my life duty, but it was not my _whole_ life," I snapped. The hard look that had appeared in her eyes now faded slowly again. She looked sort of sad.

"I know." My own eyes widened.

"You know..."

"I know about Guardian Belikov — uhm. Dimitri."

I swear my heart stopped. My eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"What about him?" I asked, feigning confusion.

"Don't make me go into the detail of what I know, Rosemarie," she said in a tone that told me she knew _more_ than enough.

"Okay... so you know," I said nodding slowly. "Are you going to launch into some lecture about how low and despicable we are? What a pathetic excuse of a daughter I am? Go ahead. I'm as ready to hear it as I'll ever be." I screwed my eyes shut and buried my head in my arms.

"It's okay, Rose," she told me.

"See! You d— Wait, _what?_" I stared at her.

"I understand what it feels like. I was young, once upon a time." I rolled my eyes.

"So you're not going to lecture me?"

"No... But I am going to tell you a story."

And she did. She sat and told me the story of a Turkish Moroi named David Ibrahim. She told me how he'd been a few years older than her, when she'd been training at the Academy to become a Guardian. She smiled sometimes, but also looked like she wanted to cry.

"I was in his final year when he approached me at a party one night," she said in a scarce whisper. "He'd come back to visit for the Christmas period. This particular evening, I'd slipped... had a little bit too much to drink, I suppose."

And that was how she'd hooked up with him. A drunken evening.

"We didn't stop seeing one another, though. He visited me every day, and I mean _every_ day until you were born. And then..." her eyes were puffed up and red, by now. "And then there was a Strigoi attack. He'd got caught up in a fight, trying to protect someone who'd been seriously hurt. They told me how he'd died, just before you were born. Literally minutes before. And so I had to avenge him, by taking up my duty as a full-time Guardian."

I sat there, staring at the wall ahead. I was... shocked, to say the least.

"Rose?" My mother whispered. I couldn't meet her gaze.

"I think I need to sleep," I told her tonelessly. She sighed once more, and shaking her head, she left the room.

"Goodnight, Rosemarie. Sleep well."

* * *

Review, dammit! (Pretty please?)  
Sorry for not updating sooner, but like.... I can update quite a bit now. No more tests/exams 'til September!


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10, you guys. Read; enjoy. It's short, but you can deal. I'm going through a bit of a crap time with my best friend, who is now refusing to speak to me... so, I have a bit of an excuse for it, I guess.**

* * *

I woke late the next morning, to a note that had been stuck on my dresser. Janine Hathaway's italic scrawl read:

_Rose,  
__The security checks — all of them — came back as negative. No one got onto campus.  
__I've been called back out to Europe, so you won't see me around for a while.  
__JH._

I shook my head, and sighed. Sure, whatever. I was fine with it. I got up, showered, enjoying the luxuries of the ensuite bathroom, and then dared to venture out into the corridor. It was completely empty, save for a Moroi man, standing, staring at my door. I started when I saw him.

"Can I help you?" I asked confusedly.

"Valik asked me to escort you down to breakfast, Miss. Hathaway." He glanced at his watch. "Although at this point, you might as well skip breakfast and just have lunch with everyone else."

"Escort? I don't need an escort." The Moroi waved his hand in a dismissive gesture.

"Valik's orders." Huffing, I slammed the door, and strode down the corridor. I met a dead end. I thought I heard the Moroi snicker.

"This way, then, Miss. Hathaway."

Today was going to be a long day.

*

The Moroi guy was called Filipp, he told me as we walked down the canteen. I couldn't help but feel slightly unnerved by the fact that he kept shooting me strange looks for the whole trip down there, but I just ignored it.

I ignored it, that is, until we got to the canteen itself. I'd heard the buzzing of a hundred conversations from right down the hallway. When I entered, everything fell dead silent.

I shifted and cleared my throat awkwardly. Every face in the room had turned in my direction, and was now staring at me. I wanted to die; turned to leave the room. Steady hands on my shoulders prevented this, though, and steered me in, and over to where Valik was sitting with a group of Guardians and Moroi.

I sat down, and stared at the wood table. Slowly, conversations began to resume. The noise in the hall grew to what it had been.

"Rose?" Valik said. "Don't you want to get some food?" I shook my head.

"Not hungry." Valik sighed.

"So, what? People giving you a strange look after you falsely claimed to see a Strigoi means that you're going to refuse to eat?" I glared at him.

"Yep. Exactly that."

"Stop being so childish, Rose."

"I'm not." He sighed. One of the Guardians across the table called his name and yelled something at him in Russian. I wasn't sure what, but Dimitri's name had been said. Valik tensed up; the other Guardians had all stopped and were staring.

"Rose, go and eat with Anton," he told me, gesturing vaguely towards the opposite end of the hall. I scanned it and saw Anton buried in a book at his own table at the back. I wasn't particularly interested, though, and I wanted to know what was going on. "_Now,_" he added, finally looking towards me and fixing me with a pissed off glare.

Wordlessly I got to my feet and made my way to the back of the hall. Anton didn't seem to notice me approaching his table, nor that I had sat down opposite him, fuming. He eventually glanced up, and started. Then he relaxed.

"Oh, it's you," he said warily, and looked back down at his book.

"It's me. What have the Guardians been saying about me?" He paused, looked up at the ceiling, looked back down at his book, sighed and looked at me. Then he closed it and put it to one side.

"What do you mean?" he asked. I explained about the Guardian up at the table. He frowned, then rubbed his neck tiredly. "Any idea what he said?"

"No. I don't speak your language. I don't hear anything apart from people spewing this complete gibberish and it's really getting to me." I snapped. Anton rolled his eyes.

"Rose, you came to Russia. You can't really expect people to suddenly change how they normally are just because one person that doesn't speak Russian is now staying here for however long." I huffed, but he ignored me and continued. "As for the rumours... they're not really anything. Well some of them are, but for the most part it's just that you're a bit delusional because you're still trying to cope with Dimitri's death."

"And the rumours that _aren't_ nothing?"

"They... there have been rumours circulating that you and Dimitri were intimate. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, I guess. But you're training to be a Guardian, and Dimitri was already a Guardian. And then there's the age gap. And the fact that you're both Guardian dhampirs and yet... well, you know how people react when dhampirs fall for one another. You know it never goes down well."

I bit back my anger.

"I see," I said plainly. I stood up to leave, but Anton called out, making me stop. "What?" I asked.

"They haven't told you, yet?"

"Told me what?"

"Valik doesn't want you on your own at any point. They've assigned day and night escorts for you. And..." I groaned inwardly.

"And you're my day escort," I finished.

"Damn, Rose. Don't act so thrilled; you're embarrassing me." He looked quite upset. "I'm not that bad. What have I done to make you hate me?"

"Nothing... it's just..." he sighed and kicked the chair opposite him out; a gesture telling me to sit back down. I did.

"Never mind. Just shut up." He picked up his book, and carried on reading.

* * *

**You know, it's really depressing how few reviews I get, for the traffic that I see on this story. It saddens me.**


	11. Chapter 11

**I finally finished reading The Draco Trilogy. It is, without a doubt, the **_**best **_**fanfiction I have read, and ever will read, in my lifetime. I highly recommend it to all. That now having been said, let us continue with our epic tale.**

* * *

"You want me to _what_?" I asked, dumbfounded. Valik smiled pleasantly up at me from his desk.

"It makes perfect sense, Rose. I don't see the point in your being awkward, here. It's beneficial to us all here." My brow wrinkled slightly as I slumped back into the chair opposite me.

"Sensible to see you're not still standing up banging on my desk like a loony."

"I wasn't banging like a loony."

"Actually," Anton interjected, vaguely amused despite his desperate attempts to mask it. "I think you'll find you were." I glared at him, and he fell silent once more.

"So let me get this clear," I recounted slowly. "You want me to continue my physical training, because if I don't, I'll go out of shape. I have no problem with that; I was going to ask about that anyway, today." Valik nodded. "_However_. The next part, I'm not really sure about that. You want me to continue some sort of vague outlined education at this Academy?" He nodded again.

"It's perfectly plausible. You never graduated. This could bring you closer to that opportunity again, so that you can get your Promise Mark, one we're through with all of this."

_All of this_. It made me shudder, how he now seemed so casual about hunting down and facing off Strigoi Dimitri. I bit back the urge to scream at him, and instead, continued with my list.

"And _then_," I said, "On top of all of this, you want me to... to what? _Train_ your Moroi warriors for their upcoming Strigoi showdowns?" Valik clapped his hands together.

"So glad you understood that. It would have been a pain to re-explain, don't you think?"

"What makes you think I'd be useful for your Moroi?" I asked. Valik shrugged.

"We at the Academy are well linked with your staff at St. Vladimir's. We heard of the damage that you and one single Moroi boy — that's two ungraduated, unqualified _children_ — were able to do against Strigoi. We also know of your other feats with Strigoi: your first encounters with them, and how you worked with the same Moroi boy and a few others, and eventually obtained your first two Molnija marks."

I sighed.

"That was mostly luck, Valik."

"And yet your knowledge is invaluable." And then I sighed again, this time with the air of defeat.

"Fine. I accept your damned terms," I told him irritably. Valik beamed.

"I thought you would, Rose. I've got a copy of your new schedule here—" he handed me the bit of paper which I took with a reluctance and scanned wearily. "The ones that are highlighted, those are the ones you're teaching. Your blanks, those are your training sessions. You'll notice you don't actually have whole days, sometimes, which I'm sure you'll be quite glad of. Anyhow, I have business to attend to, so I suggest you take Anton and go and familiarise yourself with your classmates. You have... _lunch_, now, actually," he told me, glancing at his watch. Then he turned away. I rolled my eyes, infuriated the whole setup, and stalked from the room. Anton trotted after me.

I'd gotten used to him, now, I'll admit. I didn't mind his constant shadowing of me during the day. I knew he'd be present for all of my classes, since he had technically graduated a year or so earlier. He'd told me he only stuck around because Valik didn't mind, and because he wanted to work with the Moroi staff as part of their army.

"I can't believe they're making me do this," I muttered as we made our way to the canteen. "I bet you were in on this all along, too, weren't you?" Anton snorted dismissively and gave me a sideward look.

"Of course, Rose. Because I have absolutely no other want in the world than to go back to school. I seriously _cannot_ wait," he drawled out. He slumped lazily in a chair as I slung my shoulder bag onto the floor beside me. "What've you got in there, anyway?" he nodded towards the bag.

"Books," I told him. I'd been to their library. They only had very few books written in English, but there were enough that I could easily find what I was looking for.

"Oh, so you _are_ literate. I was beginning to wonder," he said. I scowled. "On what?"

"Sorry?"

"Books on what topic?"

"Roman mythology."

He hesitated; fixed me with a careful stare that made me feel like he was trying to read my mind. I knew it was impossible, but the look he was giving me, and the general thought of mind-reading made me shift uncomfortably.

"That's _interesting_." He leaned back in his chair, still watching me fixedly. His eyes never moved from mine. I desperately wanted to tear my gaze away. "And why would that be?"

"Just... time killing, you know."

"No, I don't. Tell me, Rose. Why on Earth do you believe it?"

I looked at the Moroi boy completely perplexed. He was still scrutinising me, as though he _knew_ I had something to hide.

"What are you on about?"

"You know perfectly well. Yelizaveta's crazy declarations of mythology and cultural malarkey. I know you're still thinking about it. I know you're determined to believe that she's not insane."

"Well she's _not_," I snapped, indignant.

"And what do you know? You've met her _once_, and all of a sudden, you know all about her?" His tone was brutal, harsh. I flinched, and I think it was quite visible to him, since his hard expression suddenly softened.

"I _have_ to believe she's sane," I told him, my voice barely inaudible against the hum of background conversation. The rest of the world, at this point, though, seemed ever so far away. I felt alone, isolated, and singled out for reasons I couldn't quite understand.

"I'll help you," he said gruffly, standing up and looking away, behind him.

"What?"

"If it's important, then I'll help. But for now, I'm hungry. Try to stay put while I'm gone. It'll be terribly hard to find you if you don't." He darted off with that Moroi inhuman grace that still somewhat unnerved me, before I had a chance to question his sudden act of generosity.

*

I felt like a teacher, I suppose, when I entered the room. The massive class of Moroi students, who had been leaning across desks and talking loudly — so loudly, in fact, that I could hear them from down the corridor as Anton led me to the classroom — were now sitting dead silent, staring at me.

It was a queer sensation.

"Er. Hi," I said, vaguely. "I'm Rose.... Rose Hathaway. I'm a dhampir that trained at St. Vladimir's Academy in the US to become a guardian." There was a silent awkward pause. At the side of the room, Anton shifted uncomfortably.

"Why'd you drop out?" a Moroi boy asked me suddenly. "Why're you being trusted to train us if you dropped out?"

"Because I have more experience with the real world that every other one of my living dhampir classmates put together," I told him, fixing him with a cold stare. He shrank back in his seat. I smiled coldly, and looked around the room.

"Any other questions?" The room remained quiet. Someone at the back sneezed.

"Good. Then we can begin."

At the beginning of my talk, it was sort of slightly weird, and slightly uncomfortable. Weird, because I was teaching a bunch of kids that were pretty much my age. Uncomfortable, because they looked as terrified of me as I felt standing there talking in front of all of them at once.

Adrian's voice appeared in my mind. _Typical little dhampir. Never afraid to kill the monsters, but can't handle a class of Moroi kids_.

After that, I relaxed a bit. I tried a more open approach, turning the 'lesson' into more of a question and answer session. I outlined how their affinities could be useful, and was thrilled when I had something to say about water, as well as about air and fire. Earth, I explained to them, I wasn't entirely sure about since I'd never seen it manipulated — in fact, Earth tended to be an element that Moroi rarely found themselves aligned with; about four people in the entire class wielded it — but it seemed pretty obvious what they could do, given the practice. They could wield the Earth. They could build defensive walls of mud; they could make the ground disappear under the feet of Strigoi who tried to attack.

I also asked the class if anyone hadn't aligned with an element yet. No one had found this an issue. No spirit users, then.

By the end, the Moroi kids and I had gotten caught up in an animated discussion about the potential that their powers presented them with. I found that while there were a few people reluctant to partake in offensive training, most of them loved the concept.

At the end, some of them even seemed reluctant to leave. They filed out relaxed, and even happy. I watched them go. Anton was still standing by the window, staring out of it distantly. I glanced towards him as I gathered up my belongings.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"It's crazy, what you've been through," was all he said in response.

* * *

**Well. I did feel slightly bad for what seemed to be a naff previous chapter. I liked this one much better. I do expect reviews for it, people. Please and thanks. Also, quick reminder about the polls on my page. I'd be grateful if you went and answered. One of them may or may not impact the end (although what I've got in mind is pretty good. I really like it).**


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry for not updating. If you're looking for someone to blame, I'd blame my computer. It died. You can also blame the weather. That killed it.  
I'd also like to take this time to confess this chapter did not turn out as well as I'd hoped it to have done.**

* * *

"What's new, then?" I asked as I flung my bags down onto my desk. The day had ended and we were in the canteen eating dinner. I'd chosen to stick, faithfully, to my seat with Anton at the back of the room, despite the offers that I'd received to sit elsewhere. It amazed me how 'popular' I'd become at this place in such a short time, and reminded me of how petty people could be. It was all about reputations. Once you were deemed 'cool', everyone wanted to be around you. Also, I'd sworn to myself that I'd not get too attached to people around here, since I'd decided I'd re-enrol back at St. Vladimir's once I'd sorted stuff out here.

Anton looked up at me as I sat down and gave me a tired smile.

"You'll love this one: the queen's coming down." My jaw dropped.

"You _what_ now?"

"Yeah. She's heard about the resistance we Moroi have got going, and... well, I'm sure you've guessed she doesn't like it. She seems to be developing a lot of hatred for anyone who encourages Moroi to fight back against Strigoi. Even if," he added as I opened my mouth to curse the woman, "they themselves are willing to fight."

"But why's she coming down?" I whined.

"Because what she says goes. And also..." he flinched, as if he'd already anticipated telling me this wouldn't sit well with me.

"She knows I'm here," I breathed. Then I swore.

"Yeah." Anton looked quite forlorn.

"Damn. She'll give me hell."

"I know."

*

Queen Tatiana's arrival was not widely appreciated by any of the Guardians or the Moroi. Just before she'd been due to arrive, Valik could be seen striding around the campus cursing her, with several Moroi in tow who were all nodding solemnly and whispering hushed agreements.

They lined up by the entrance though, in a formal welcome that did seem very genuine to the unsuspecting outsider. The angered, agitated moods seemed to have been dimmed for the purpose of the arrival of the Queen, as a sleek black limousine pulled up, looking terribly alien in this setting.

Tatiana stepped out, and cast an almost disgusted look across the grounds, rooted where she was on the spot. Her personal guard hovered in the background. Her eyes flickered past me briefly before returning to land on me, as though she'd been trying to pick me out. A look of pure distaste crossed her expression. Anton, standing beside me frowned and shifted slightly.

The Queen danced towards us. She made everything about the poise and elegant Moroi grace somehow detestable; made it look so perfect that it thus became flawed.

"Miss. Hathaway," she sneered disdainfully, upon reaching me.

"Your majesty," I returned, refusing to meet her stare.

"I see you've seen sense, then. I see it's _finally_ occurred to you that the likes of yourself could _never_, in any way, be qualified or responsible as you'd need to be to guard the only heir of the Dragomir line. Were you a more respectable person, I'd almost be inclined to thank you."

"That's not what this is about," I told her coldly. "I have every intention of returning to my post after I'm done." Tatiana laughed loudly, and without mirth.

"Of course. You're here to... avenge your mentor, wasn't it? And good riddance. I'm sure that you couldn't be good for much better." She drifted off quickly, before I could reply. I stared at the floor, scowling, trying to hide my upset expression. A few of the nearby students shot me sympathetic looks. Further up the line, Tatiana had stopped by Valik and was now intent on attacking him. Valik stood his ground, though, and wore an expression of grim satisfaction when the damned woman flounced off in an enraged manner to unleash her wrath on her next unfortunate victim.

Anton was staring up at the guest quarters where Tatiana would later be staying. He wore an unreadable expression on his face.

*

"Well Rose, I'm now almost certain you've used every single known American expletive in existence within the past five minutes. Congratulations; that must be some sort of record."

I glared over at where the queen sat, with a scornful, sour expression. Valik smirked. "I'm wondering when you'll eventually bully someone into teaching you all of our ones."

The dining hall was unsurprisingly more empty than usual. Tatiana had demanded that a select few — the select few she wanted to be there — attended, and that was all. The rest were allowed out into the local towns to eat, save for the Moroi who had already crammed into the feeding rooms before they were banished off along with the dhampir students.

I sort of wondered why I was here, eating in the presence of the bitch herself. It seems sort of clichéd that Valik and I, and Anton were all three invited to eat with her, since she had established her strong hatreds for both Valik and I. As for Anton, I wasn't sure how he'd wound up being asked to eat with the 'select few', but he hadn't bothered to show up for it. Typical of him, it seemed.

As if Valik had been reading my mind, he turned around and asked me where Anton was. I shrugged.

"Why should I know? He probably couldn't be asked." Valik frowned.

"That doesn't sound like him. He may be annoying, rude, arrogant and slightly useful, but he knows when to respect his superiors." He glanced towards the Queen in dismay as he said this.

We moved on to discuss various other trivial things, after that, though we all wanted to know when Tatiana would come over and harass us about the resistance. In the few hours since she'd arrived, she'd managed to hear of my involvement with the Moroi Warrior group, which was pretty much just my luck. Another thing for her to hate me for.

Valik stopped eating, and sniffed the air slightly.

"Can you smell burning?" he asked me suddenly. His brow was wrinkled in concern.

"I um... oh. Oh God. Yeah I can. Not too far off, either."

A Guardian burst into the hall, earning the attention of everyone in it. He scanned it, and then his eyes rested on Valik. He hurried over.

"I thought you ought to know," he whispered, the urgency in his voice blatant, "that someone's set the Queen's room on fire." Valik cursed.

"Do we know what happened?"

"Actually, we do. We've got the fire under control. And the... culprit... is sitting in your office waiting for you. It's going to be hell to explain, though, isn't it?"

"It is. And I think I know who's behind this." He sighed, tiredly. "Right. Time to go and explain this one, then."

*

A couple of hours later, I was called to Valik's office. Tatiana was there, waiting for me instead of Valik. I started when I saw her, and then started cursing under my breath.

"I suppose you think this is funny," she snapped, once I'd closed the door.

"Sorry?"

"Oh! Don't play dumb with me. You know _exactly_ what I'm talking about. My room was set on fire."

"I heard about that... Your Majesty."

"I bet. You masterminded it, didn't you?" I paused.

"Huh?"

"Your little _boyfriend_ was behind the whole thing. The one standing next to you this morning when I arrived."

"He and I aren't dating," I told her icily. "I don't care who you are, but I'm not going to stand here and be accused of burning down your room."

"Of course. I've heard things about you. You sound like the type to get passed around, like a filthy _blood whore_."

Valik burst into the room.

"That is quite enough," he thundered. Nadejda stalked in after him, and nodded towards me before fixing a cold stare on the Queen.

"I've seen an awful lot of things, Tatiana Ishakov," she said. Her tone was low, sinister, and held a dangerous air to it. "I've seen a lot of futures. But yours..." she laughed. "Your death will be slow and painful. It will be reminiscent of all of the pain that you have caused your subjects during your lifetime. A cloud of death and screaming agony is hanging above your head. Your people beg that you allow them to fight in their rightful place. You deny them this. The deaths you have caused... your ignorance is the root of this evil you seek to destroy. You shall suffer for it."

She turned heel and left, pausing only to call me out after her.

* * *

**I'm contemplating making some fun, random interval chapters in which I answer some of the questions that have been asked in the reviews, although right now, I can't say I have nearly enough questions to answer. So, PLEASE, ask away!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thanks to the reviewer that pointed out the typing error. It has been fixed, and you were right.  
****I didn't update all week because a lot of shit's been happening. I die a little inside, just thinking about it. Also.... this chapter's difficult. I haven't written it, as I type out this message. I've got two paragraphs so far. It's really not at all appealing to me.  
****Well... here goes nothing.**

* * *

"Errm," I said once we were safely out of the room. Nadejda was still practically sprinting along the corridor at an incredible pace. She glanced over her shoulder at me and smiled.

"So nice to see you, Roza. I was wondering when we'd next meet. I have so much to tell you," she said, beaming. I glanced back towards Valik's office. "Oh -- don't worry about Tatiana. Most of what I said was just angry ramble."

"Which part wasn't?" I asked, slightly nervously. Nadejda ignored me if she'd heard. Instead she laughed lightly, and pushed open a door.

"In here, then. We've so much to tell you, Yelizaveta and I."

Half an hour later, I'd been filled in on a lot of the minor detail; random things that were happening around the house since my visit; how Yelizaveta was faring (I'd expected her to be there, though Nadejda had travelled alone to the Academy).

When it came to the main topic — the one we'd all been anticipating, and yet fearing at the same time — it was all a bit hesitant. I can't blame anyone, really. It was _new_, awkward to talk about. No one sits well with change.

"I need to do a few more readings," Nadejda told me slowly. "I have leads, but a lot of my questions need that extra piece of the puzzle... you... to answer them. It won't take too long, I suspect, but Valik and that wretched queen will both frown upon the whole thing, if either find out."

I started when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Who else had been sitting in the room, this whole time? I wasn't sure how my guard had slipped so substantially, though I relaxed when I saw that it was only Anton. Then, remembering the queen's words, I tensed again.

"Why," I asked, "does that godforsaken bitch think we're dating?" Anton shrugged idly.

"She's mental. She thinks that because I like playing with fire, we must be involved. Is that such a major issue?"

Nadejda had regarded this exchange quite wearily. She muttered something to Anton, who annoyedly huffed, and strode out, slamming the door shut behind him, with what I could only assume was some immature, snide reply. The old woman rolled her eyes and then turned back to me.

"Anton... has everyone's best intentions at heart. He tries," she said. "You must be patient with him." When I didn't reply, she sighed. "Okay. These readings, Roza. They'll be little things, for the most part. Cards, mainly. I like working with my cards. I also want to do a couple of things... water readings, fire readings — the elements hide many desired answers, you know — and rune casting. I won't get into all the technical things, I don't think. Just.... bear with me."

So I did. I can't say how long I sat there watching her work. Hours, probably. It was strangely calming and unnerving at the same time. I carefully followed her workings, listening to the small revelations and breakthroughs she had, piecing them together in my mind.

It all seemed like irrelevant nonsense.

After a while, though, she stood up smiling.

"I think I've got what I came for," she told me as she embraced me lightly. "Thank you, Roza. I need a bit of time to piece this together, but I'm getting some of the answers I've been looking for, at long last."

She turned to the door.

"Oh, and Roza, one more thing. Yelizaveta tells me she found the madwoman. Arina. She says to tell you that you need to come and visit, and soon."

**

* * *

**

Well. That was a lame-assed chapter.

**I'm not really expecting anyone to review, to be honest. But whatever. Each to their own ways.  
****I'll.... meh. If I update soon, then count it as a blessing. Just don't get your hopes up high.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Thanks for the reviews, people. They put me in a substantially better mood, I must confess. You guys are great (y) Thanks in particular to Jessties. I was rather flattered by some of your reviews — and in a quick response to your chapter 12 review, we **_**will**_** be seeing Adrian again, later on. I'm quite excited about writing that bit of the story, actually :D**

* * *

"Hey Valik, can I—"

"No." I frowned, glaring annoyedly at him, hands on hips.

"You don't even know what I was going to say!" He looked up from his newspaper and gestured for me to sit down.

"You want to go and see my aunt. And I'm saying no."

"Fine.... maybe you did know what I was going to ask. But why?"

"Three simple reasons: firstly, Rose, the queen is still here for a couple of days. I think it'd be sensible if you tried not to draw too much attention to yourself during that time. Secondly, it wasn't too long ago that you claimed to see Strigoi on campus — and _if_ you were correct, then I want to keep you away from them. I don't know why they'd be looking for you, but they can't have you. And lastly, I fear your mother." He paused thoughtfully. "I think it's mostly that last reason."

"This is ridiculous," I huffed. "You can't expect me to just stay here all the time."

"Actually, I can. And I will, Rose. Now, if I remember correctly, you have a training session to attend. Go."

As if to emphasise that he wanted me gone, he picked up his newspaper again and turned away from me. I growled, and strode from the room.

Anton was leaning against a wall outside, waiting for me. As I walked by, he caught up with me, landing in step. I ignored him.

"It's quite funny, isn't it?" he mused. I glanced in his direction, but still remained silent. "I mean, it's a Guardian's job to protect Moroi from Strigoi. But here we are-" he grinned, "and it's a total role reversal. It's kind of cool, being the guardian of a Guardian."

"You're not my guardian," I grumbled.

"Oh come on, Rose. Lighten up. Your bestest buddy will be gone soon enough, and then everything will go back to normal." I rolled my eyes.

"I don't care for when Tatiana's leaving. _I_, however, am not allowed to leave. How does that work?"

"I thought it was quite obvious," the boy replied bluntly. "Valik doesn't think you're mental, after all. He's starting to wonder about the whole Strigoi thing. If humans are working with them, then no one's safe. Anything could be happening, and we're completely in the dark about it.

"He was telling you the truth, just now. He's got no idea whatsoever as to why the Strigoi seem to be hell-bent on finding you... maybe they just want you dead. They're like that, aren't they? But you're a good Guardian, you are. A good asset to the Moroi, whether the queen likes it or not. So he finds it of utmost importance to enforce all of this extra security."

I stopped in my tracks.

"By extra security... you do just mean this walking around with me thing, don't you?" Anton snickered and shook his head.

"Oh, no, Rose. You've got the royal treatment. You've got armed patrols around the block you're staying in at night, and patrols up and down your corridor, too. I bet Tatiana's envying the lucky bastards that are living in the same block as you. They'd bee safe if there was a major attack."

"You've got to be kidding me," I groaned.

*

During the course of the next week, my desperation to leave campus grew and grew. It's amazing how much more you want something when you can't have it, really. Anyway, I attempted several escapes at various points on various days.

I tried it when the queen was leaving and everyone was caught up in those annoying formal farewells, but Anton had been told by Valik to keep an eye on me during that time — apparently I was starting to become a bit predictable.

I tried it during my training sessions, but the guardians who were expecting me came and hunted me down. Apparently it made a good sport, Rose hunting.

I tried it during my 'teaching' hours. My class didn't approve, and then I had to make up time, which was just irritating for all of us.

And finally, I tried at midnight. Two minutes after, to be precise. I knew that the patrols were running up and down the corridor, but for the past few nights I'd been watching the guys on patrol. They did things too logically. You'd see them pass my window once every 3 minutes, and then after 10 laps, there'd be a rotation, meaning I'd have a one minute delay on the patrol.

So, in the dead of night, I slid my window up. It was soundless, and I counted my blessings silently as I swung my feet over the ledge so that they were hanging in the air. Then I let myself drop. I landed deftly, gracefully on the ground, and smiled to myself. It felt good to be doing this. I couldn't quite put my finger on why.

I revelled in the moment, then, knowing I had time to kill. The guards should be on the other side, and changing shifts right now. I was so caught up, I never noticed the approaching figure that had been lurking in the shadows.

A glint of light in the dark; I spun around. His eyes were a piercing red. Every nerve in my body screamed at me to run... I stayed. I felt like my breath had been knocked out of me.

"_Buria_," I whispered scarcely. His red eyes glimmered in the blackness of the night. I swear, _I swear_ I saw a tear roll down his cheek. The shadows engulfed him, then.

I dropped to my knees. My cheeks were damp. I had a lump in my throat. I choked back a sob.

"Wait..." I tried to whisper. My lips moved, but no sound came from them.

I heard a rustling of leaves and grass behind me.

"Rose?"

_Game over._

**

* * *

**

I think I've been playing on the gameboy waaay too much recently. So, I wasn't really planning on our mysterious Strigoi guest (guess who?) appearing. I was quite shocked when he showed up, actually.  
Reviews, prz?

* * *


	15. Chapter 15

**Voila. I've recieved some rather flattering reviews from you guys :O Seriously. My ego's going to be _huge_ by the time I go back to school, if you keep on like this.**

* * *

"I'm disappointed, to say the least," Valik snapped out as he strode over. "Rose? Are you listening to me?"

It was then that it occurred to him that something was wrong. He dropped down to the ground next to me, and grabbed me by the shoulders, forcing me to look at him.

"What happened?" he breathed. More tears were spilling down my cheeks. I shook my head. "Rose, you have to talk to me. What happened?"

I buried my head into his shoulder and cried freely.

*

I woke up in my room, the next morning. I propped myself up on the bed, taking the place in as I slowly came to my senses. My head was pounding, my eyes were hurting, and my throat was sore.

_He_ had been there. I had seen him. Valik bustled in, stopping to swat the bundle of blankets on the chair by the door. It came to me, then, that said bundle was in fact a person; it groaned and moved.

"Get up, you lazy twit," Valik told him.

"Inmint" Anton grumbled inaudibly.

"What?"

"In a minute!" Valik's head snapped towards me, as though he thought that I'd been asleep and that Anton had woken me up. He swatted the other around the head, and came over to sit by my bed.

"How're you feeling?" he asked gently.

"Fine. Just go away," Anton mumbled.

"Not you, you moron." I shrugged, and nodded. I didn't trust myself to speak.

"Are you hungry?" I shook my head.

"No," I croaked. He sighed.

"Do you need to talk about anything?" I shook my head again. He sighed, then, and got to his feet. Yelling something at Anton in Russian, he left the room.

All was quite for a few minutes. Then Anton stirred again, and stood up.

"Morning," he said, yawning. "You look like hell."

"I feel worse," I mumbled in response.

"I heard about your little escapade last night. Apparently, Valik found you sitting in the grass, crying. He couldn't get a word from you."

"Sounds about right."

"What happened?" he asked. I didn't answer. "Oh, come on. You're not just going to bottle it up like that are you?"

"I am," I told him. Then I flinched. "Can I get anything for my head?"

"Food. Drink."

"Pills?"

"Yeah, maybe. But what happened?" I fixed him with a cold stare. "-That's not going to work on me, you know." I sighed.

"I saw..."

"You saw? Who?"

"_Him_."

He froze.

"He... Are you serious? No. You can't have done. You were still on the Academy grounds."

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"I'm calling you delusional." My eyes narrowed. I refused to speak to him, after that.

He didn't tell Valik, though. I was surprised. I thought he was Valik's way of getting answers out of me. Valik did come back in, later that day, to try and question me again - but to no avail. Eventually, he let it slip. I could tell he was still worried, but he knew a hopeless cause when he saw one.

After a couple of days of resting, I went back to my daily routines. I trained, I taught, and then I went back up to my room. I tried to avoid as much contact as possible with anyone else.

I wasn't giving up, though. I watched, how, over a stretch of days, the security deteriorated and eased up. Anton, for example, no longer accompanied me around (although I think Valik still insisted he observe from distances, every now and again). The patrol on my corridor stayed, but the guards circling the building stopped.

It was late in the afternoon when I saw my opening. I was supposed to be going back to my room, as everyone expected me to. There were guards at the front gate, but I'd become aware of other ways to slip out of the Academy grounds, and I did so.

Once I was past the wards, I didn't care who found out I was gone. I ran; pelted it through the woodland that I'd ended up in, and didn't stop until I'd reached the dhampir village.

Nadejda beckoned me inside with a knowing grin.

"I knew you'd be coming, Roza. Head on in; Yelizaveta wants to see you."

As soon as I entered the house, I was barrelled back out by the woman. She grabbed for my arm, hauling me back down the path.

"Ummm..." was all I could muster. She glanced back at me, smiling.

"Hello, Roza. We're going to see Arine."

"The madwoman?"

"The one and only."

*

Arine, was, unsurprisingly quite out of it. We found her in her home, talking to herself in Russian. You could tell, by looking at her, that she was one of those very eccentric people that you'd tend to avoid unless you absolutely had to. We didn't have a choice.

Yelizaveta cleared her throat.

"Arine?" she called out sweetly. The old woman carried on like she hadn't heard for a few moments, and then looked up in surprise.

"Katleen!" the woman exclaimed, before babbling something out in Russian. I glanced at Yelizaveta curiously.

"She said, 'Katleen, it's been such a long time. I haven't seen you since we were at school together."

"Who's Katleen?" I asked. Yelizaveta shrugged.

"I'm not really sure. This woman is as old as my mother, so I think she's mistaken me for one of her old schoolmates. Perhaps Nadejda knows, though."

"Oh?" Arine cried out, suddenly, and asked something. Yelizaveta returned swiftly, with an unhappy tone.

"She wondered if you were my daughter."

What would have normally been about five minutes' worth of small talk took near enough an hour. I felt useless, just sitting there listening while Arine and Yelizaveta chatted on. Yelizaveta's demeanour was placid, but I could tell her patience had begun to wear thin.

I knew when the conversation changed tone, and snapped to attention. Yelizaveta had fixed Arine with a cold stare, and had demanded something. Arine's expression had changed about five times during the space of a second: first confused, then shocked, then horrified and terrified, and finally, quite angry. She shouted something in return.

"What's going on?" I whispered. Yelizaveta ignored me, and shrieked back at the old woman, who finally let out a defeated sob. She slumped in her chair, staring at the wood floor. Then she began to talk again, in a hushed tone. Yelizaveta whispered to me, as the woman spoke, and I realised that she was translating for me.

"Listen carefully, because I waste my time no more with you after this. I tried to tell people before, but you passed me off as mental and locked me away in my own home as my prison. Now you seek my advice for your own selfish gain.

"But yes, there is a way. I saw it with mine own two eyes. I felt it..." she trailed off. A tear rolled down her cheek.

"I once had a lover who fought as a Guardian for me. He got captured and turned by the demons, and I, young and blinded by love, had sought them out to gain my revenge. I found myself caught in a battle with he whom I had loved the most, and I found myself in the terrible position of giving myself up to the Strigoi side, or killing him.

"It was self defence. I saw the smallest of openings, and dove at his throat... I had no other way. I had not specialised in any sort of magic during my time at school. I could do strange things that no one could ever explain, but I never aligned with an element in my life. I dove at his throat, and I bit him. It was instinct.

"There, I felt the most sickening, thing. I swear I saw the Strigoi in his blood, an alien body. It did not belong. I felt _his_ - my Konstantin's - pain, too. I willed the Strigoi out of him. I wanted to _drag_ it out."

She paused. The words slowly sunk in, and my eyes began to widen in shock and horror. Arine opened her mouth to continue. Then she stopped, and closed it again. She shook her head, muttering something. Yelizaveta started to argue, but she was cut off by an angry scream.

Eventually, she got to her feet. I followed suit.

"We're leaving." She whispered.

She strode out of the door, and down the road. She was silent on the journey back, and silent when we reached the house, where Nadejda stood waiting.

"Well?"

Yelizaveta stormed past her.

"It didn't go well?" she asked me, in a hushed voice. I shrugged.

"I think... I need to think about this. I think I understand. I'm not sure." Nadejda nodded, but as I turned to leave, she grabbed my arm.

"Roza... please. For Yelizaveta's sake. Please save him."

"I..."

"Please?"

I nodded, numbly.

*

When I got back to the Academy, I knew something was wrong. I went rushing into the building, where I stopped one of the Guardians.

"What's going on?" I asked. Her eyes were wide.

"There was a fight... a showdown between the Moroi and Strigoi. We had an alert from a nearby village. They were looking for you! And when they couldn't find you, they had to go alone."

"What happened?" I breathed. She looked at me solemnly.

"Nobody died, but two were badly injured."

"Who?" I asked. My voice was scarce. I had a horrible feeling I already knew.

"Valik, and the Moroi boy. Anton."

* * *

**I don't need to say it for you to know what's coming.... but I will anyway :D**

**  
**

**REVIEW?**


	16. Chapter 16

**So many reviews! Goodness! How many did I get for the last chapter? Something like 16 or 17? I'm really quite shocked :D Thank you so much :D  
****Be grateful, by the way. I'm opting to write this as opposed to doing chemistry homework.**

* * *

A few days later, I was told that Valik's condition had been stabilised; no word, yet, on Anton. I was also told that Valik wanted to see me, immediately.

"Yes, Rose, I _am_ annoyed," he told me in a scarily calm voice, when I entered the room. The lighting was dim, and I could see him on the bed, sitting up, and watching me. "I'm annoyed that you weren't here to carry out your duty to help and protect the Moroi, because of your own selfishness. But more than that, I'm _disappointed_." It was one of those kinds of situations, that when you got caught in them, you couldn't stop thinking about how much easier the whole exchange would be if he was absolutely furious and raging, and wouldn't stop yelling at you. I generally preferred that to the 'I'm disappointed' talk, any day of the week.

I sat there, though, and endured, and half an hour later, he'd worn the topic out, and sat back, tired.

"How are you feeling?" I asked. I made the guilt in my voice quite evident, and he noticed it, and cracked a smile.

"Hey, cheer up, Rose. I'll be fine. I guess I went a bit over the top with the lecture, didn't I? It's just... we _lost_. I got hurt; Anton got really hurt. And... _we lost_. We don't lose. We don't like losing." I nodded, sympathetically. "So... where _were_ you?"

Considering how, five minutes ago, he'd been ranting on like there was no tomorrow in his disappointed voice, I decided against telling him about my visit to Arine. He wouldn't approve, I was sure. I shrugged.

"I needed a bit of time to myself," I told him. He bowed his head.

"I can understand how you might feel you need that. We've been a bit... _overprotective_." He yawned, then.

"You should rest," I chastised. "Why didn't you say you were tired?" He grinned.

"What are you, my mother?"

Valik froze, biting his lip. His eyes glassed over.

"Do me a favour?" he asked. "Go check in on Anton for me." Then he looked away towards the window. Sighing softly, I left him.

Thinking about it, though, I'd never seen Valik's mother, apart from in the photos in Nadejda's house. She looked pretty young in those photos, though, and considering how old Valik was, I guessed she was probably quite a bit older, now. But... what confused me was, where was she? Yelizaveta and Nadejda lived together, so why wasn't she with them?

It dawned on me that something might have happened to her. That would explain Valik's expression. A wave of sadness swept over me, as I neared Anton's room.

None of the nurses were there to stop me at the door, so I went in. Anton was lying motionless on the bed. I cast a careful glance at him as I sat down on the visitor's chair by the end of the bed. His face looked paler than usual (and I wasn't sure how that was actually possible) and _very_ gaunt. His skin also had several thread-like scars running across it, which hadn't been there before.

His hands were bandaged up. I wondered what on earth had happened to them, suddenly feeling terrible for not being there to help him. And, the worst part was, considering he wasn't even conscious right now, these injuries weren't the only thing that was wrong with him. What else? The possibilities reeled through me head, each making me feel fainter and fainter.

"Rose?" I jumped at the sound of my voice being said, and glanced about nervously. Then I realised who had spoken.

"You're awake!" I squeaked. Anton looked up, hesitantly.

"So I am. How long have I been asleep?"

"Few days," I mumbled.

"Jeez. What the hell happened?"

"I dunno."

"'Course you don't. You weren't there."

There was a sort of awkward silence. I ran a hand through my hair nervously.

"So where were you?"

"I needed time to think," I lied. Anton sighed.

"Sure." He replied.

"You're mad at me, aren't you?" I asked in a small voice. He sighed again.

"No, I'm not. But I'd really prefer that you didn't lie."

I didn't say anything to that. Nor did he. We sat in silence for a bit, and then the nurse came and shooed me out. He shot me a pleading look before I left, and said,

"When you're ready to tell the truth, Rose, come visit me?"

I simply nodded, unable to reply.

**

* * *

**

IT'S MY BRTHDAY TOMORROW! And I know it was a terribly short chapter (it was bound to be; it's a filler), but here's my birthday wish:

**Please, please, **_**please**_** review? :P**


	17. Chapter 17

**You beautiful people :') So many delightful reviews and birthday greetings! n_n I'm really quite thrilled. You beat my friends on the birthday greetings, by far. Be proud :D**

_(To the reviewer who asked that shouldn't Rose be able to sense Strigoi by now, I have one thing to say: I didn't like that detail. I excluded it -- you may or may not have noticed, I'm changing a lot of things. That chapter wouldn't have been half as dramatic, had she known a Strigoi was there. Do try to bear that in mind.)_

* * *

Of course, I was never ready to tell the truth. I couldn't; not when I knew that both Anton and Valik's reactions would probably be blown about a thousand times out of proportion. I decided, then, not to tell them anything. I did go back and see Anton, but I checked that he was asleep when I did so. I didn't want him interrogating me at every spare minute.

When they were let out of the wards, I chose to make myself scarce. Since the fight, there had been a new Moroi day escort, as opposed to Anton. I couldn't help but notice how he didn't take up the position again after he'd come out, but I didn't really mind. I noticed that the new escort was much easier to slip.

So, the hunt was on. I knew what needed to be done. I needed to find a Spirit user, and I needed to find Dimitri. Then I needed to convince my Spirit user that it was for a greater good, if he or she bit him.

Spirit users aren't easy to come by, though. I didn't have many options, and sighing, I realised that it might be time, perhaps, to call an old friend.

"Lissa?" I whispered uncertainly down the line. I was sitting cross legged on the bed, clutching the phone in both hands nervously. I'm not sure why I was whispering, though. I guess my nerves were getting the better of me.

"This is Christian..... Lissa was feeling tired, so she's asleep in the other room. Can I take a message for you...... uh. Who is this, sorry?"

"Rose," I replied in a scarce voice.

"Rose."

"Yeah. Can you—"

"Nice talking to you, Rose," Christian interrupted, stiffly. "I've got to go."

"Hey!" I screamed suddenly. "You hold on one minute. This call isn't even for you."

"No," Christian replied quietly. "But Rose, can you do me a favour? Don't call again. Lissa's only just gone back to being vaguely normal. You leaving damn near killed her. Don't hurt her again."

The line went dead.

"Oh." I said, to no one in particular. "Okay then."

*

I was sitting at a lunch table, minding my own business a few days later, when Anton floated over and slid into the seat opposite me. I was reading a book, and as he sat, I didn't bother looking up. He didn't say anything, either, for a couple of minutes. We just sat there in this expectant silence. He caved first.

"Hey," he said idly. "What're you reading?" This time I did look up. I shrugged.

"Stuff. Hi."

He nodded.

"You're looking for a spirit user," he said suddenly. This caught my attention and I slammed the book shut. "Nadejda said something about it," he added by way of explanation. I shrugged again.

"And hypothetically... if I was. What would you care?" I asked.

"I'd want to know what you wanted with the spirit user," he replied, watching me carefully.

"She didn't tell you?" Anton laughed.

"The woman rarely ever talks sense to me," he chuckled. "So are you going to tell me?"

"Probably not," I admitted. His shoulders visibly drooped. "I'm sorry.... I can't."

He tried to smile, and failed miserably.

"It's okay, I guess. I just figured I could help, you know?"

I sighed. I couldn't believe I was giving in. I was getting far too soft, these days. _Toughen up, Rose_. I glanced at my watch.

"You free, now?" I asked. He raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah."

"My room, in five." I told him, and strode off, not bothering to check whether or not he'd understood.

I explained to him, upstairs, as much as I knew. At first, I was reluctant. But I told him what I'd heard from Arine.

"So," he said thoughtfully. "You need to find a spirit user, and get them to bite Dimitri." His brow wrinkled. "That's disgusting."

"Yeah -but it'll save him," I snapped indignantly. Anton held his hands up in defence.

"I know. I'm just saying, this person's really got to... you know, _like_ you to do that for you. No one else would. It's sick."

I leaned back against the headrest, and stared at the ceiling.

"I tried to call Lissa. She didn't answer; her boyfriend did. He told me I shouldn't call again."

"Oh."

"That's what I said, too."

*

Two days later, Valik came striding over. He was, it seemed, back in full health, and had a cheerful attitude about him. He caught me in the corridor before I was due to go to my session with the Moroi students.

"Rose!" he yelled. I started, and then spun around.

"Yeah?"

"I've been thinking. Term break's coming up about now." I nodded. It was literally around a week off, now, I think. The students wouldn't shut up about it. Everyone was allowed off campus for the week, a bliss that wasn't otherwise granted often, or so I'd heard.

"It is."

"And... that is. We think you've gotten a bit isolated, really." I frowned.

"What're you saying?" Valik just shook his head, and beamed.

"You know what? It can be a surprise," he said, grinning. "See you round, Rose."

A couple of minutes later, Anton stalked by. He seemed like he was set on going somewhere, but he caught my eye and his face broke into a smile.

"I know, I know. I'm amazing," he said.

"Huh?"

"Wait... has Valik told you?"

"Told me what?" I asked, confused. "He said he had a surprise. What's going on."

Recognition dawned on his face, and he snickered.

"Oh don't worry, Rose. You'll see. Now— go teach!" And with that, he dashed off.

"I'm not even going to ask," I muttered, pushing the classroom door open. Life never gets boring, really, does it?

**

* * *

**

I'm sorry it took so long to update :(

**Really, I am.**

**In other depressing news, I'm going on holiday, so I'll be away for a week on Saturday. I don't think I'll have a chance to update tomorrow, but I'll write loads on holiday (hopefully), for you all!**

**I'm eagerly anticipating Blood Promise's release. I pre-ordered today, finally, after a long delay. But I've found a method of substantially reducing the international shipping I had to pay. Quite glad :)**

**Reviews, folks?**


	18. Chapter 18

**Why do guys only ever think of sex?! WHY?!**

**In other news, I'm back from my holiday =)**

* * *

Stress, it occurred to me, is never a good thing. Aside from having a whole load of negative impacts on your health, it also gives you grey hair, makes you ratty, and prone to irritable moods.

For me, it seemed to make me act _very_ impulsively. This explains how I could be found running along the road on the sunny afternoon of the last day of term.

I wasn't training, and I wasn't running for leisure or enjoyment. Some psychotic part of me had decided I'd waited long enough, now, and postponed my mission enough; it had decided that I should go and look for Dimitri. The same psychotic part of me was also quite thirsty for vengeance — I wanted to kill.

I had been running for several hours straight when I came to my senses... that is, well... sort of. Overwhelmed by emotion, I collapsed to the ground and curled up in a sobbing heap.

When I looked up, through sore and bleary eyes, it hit me that I had absolutely no clue where I was. Warily, I clambered to my feet, brushing dust and dirt off of my clothes, and started forward once again - though this time, slightly more cautiously. There were no signs of life around. No way to ask directions, here. I'd have to keep walking until I reached the next town.

*

Valik was frustrated.

"What do you _mean_?" he bellowed, slamming his fist down onto the desk which shuddered, sending pens and papers flying onto the ground.

Anton looked back at him boredly.

"I mean, she took off. Flipped out and did a runner. They're looking for her now," he returned steadily.

"But this ruins everything," Valik groaned. Anton nodded sympathetically.

"Sounds like the Rose we know," came a terse voice from the corner of the room. Valik's gaze flickered over, and the boy shrugged. He was slumped in a chair, watching the guardian and Moroi intently.

A girl slept, lightly resting on the boy's shoulder. She had dark circles under her eyes, and presently looked the _least_ bit of the princess that she supposedly was, Anton thought.

"Shut up, Ozera," another boy sitting opposite the first said half-heartedly. His head was in his hands and he was slouching forward, elbows propped on knees. His eyes were fixed on the floor. He sighed, sat up and pulled out a cigarette packet. "Do us all a favour and just shut up."

The first boy glared, and the cigarette box in the other's hands burst into flames. He yelped, dropping the box on the ground and stamping repeatedly on it until the fire had burned down. The girl stirred, and her eyes flickered open. She glanced from the boy clutching his charred cigarette packet to the boy beside her, and frowned.

"Sorry," the first muttered, sounding the least bit apologetic. The second huffed and slumped back in his seat.

"Asshole," he whispered. Anton rolled his eyes, and with a brief nod towards Valik, he strode from the room.

* * *

**So, yeah. You may notice this one is stupidly short. It's another teaser chapter... and it's there to let you know what the surprise was, since things are going to start happening, soon enough. Next chapter.... I've already got it, but it now needs a bit of tweaking.**

**Reviews?**


	19. Chapter 19

**Weirdly enough, in my very early drafts, this was the first thing I wrote. This was where I had intended to start the story from. Of course, you won't be reading the exact version — I've changed **_**loads**_** of it now, since I'm working from a plot. But parts of the first few paragraphs are quite similar.**

**Just a random fact for you, there.**

**(_ReaderRabbit: I'm not really sure whether she did find out or not. Perhaps she did... but Valik had been planning on calling Rose's friends over, to convince her to go back to the US)._**

* * *

It was dark by the time I reached the Strigoi lair, though at the time I had absolutely no clue what I was walking into. More specifically, I thought I just was walking by another dense cluster of trees, on the way to the small village I had spied up ahead for the past two hours. It hadn't seemed to get any closer, no matter how much I walked.

Looking back, I can say this was a pretty bad occurrence. If I'd known, I probably would've run for it, however, since I didn't really have a clue as to where I was, I carried on forward towards my impending doom.

The air was cold and biting, though that wasn't the reason that suddenly, I felt strangely tense. Something was wrong. I scanned the area quickly, unmoving for a few moments.

When I was certain I'd been imagining things, I began to edge forwards cautiously, worried that each tiny step would lead to some disaster that I wouldn't be able to get out of. Then I froze. The back of my neck prickled. Reaching into my pocket for my silver dagger - even the psychotic part of me hadn't hoped to need it this early, when I was on my rampage - I swung around, and was met with... nothing?

I frowned. I _knew_ that feeling, like I knew the back of my hand. - Actually, no; I never took my time to stare at my palms. Nonetheless, I was never wrong with this sort of thing. The feeling was too horribly familiar. Suspicion filled me as I glanced yet again about the immediate area in front of me.

*

Okay, so let's just pause for a moment. I would like to tell you a very significant piece of information, to what happened next: over the ages, Guardians have messed up _big time_ in dangerous situations. They've gone and gotten themselves_ killed,_ for example. So really, what happened isn't so bad, bearing in mind I was still alive, and had only been bashed in the head to the point of unconsciousness when I had realised that, as opposed to my earlier plans, the Strigoi had found me.

*

I can't say I quite knew where I was, when I first woke up. It wasn't pleasant. As I forced my eyes open, a wave of disorienting nausea swept over me.

Even after I'd opened my eyes, though, I couldn't see anything at all. I was in a pitch dark place, seemingly completely on my own. I strained to see anything around me.

Realising that this was hopeless, I attempted to sit up. This lead to my discovery that I had been bound. My arms were tied to my sides by a thick cord. My feet were also tied.

Cursing, I wriggled about a bit, trying - to no avail - to move. I ended up hitting my head on something solid above me, which tore a loud yelp from me. I groaned, and stopped moving as the pain overwhelmed me.

It seems time was a bit lost in this little abyss I'd got myself into. I wasn't sure how much later it was that I started moving around again, or how long I carried that on for. I wasn't sure, either, precisely when I became so exhausted that I, for the second time in a very short period, fell unconscious.

*

"_You can't find her?_" Valik growled. The two guardians standing opposite him shook their heads mournfully.

"She's managed to disappear without a trace," one of them told him in a grave voice. Valik sighed, and turned towards Anton.

"Do you have any idea where she's gone?" he asked tiredly. Anton shook his head.

"I went and asked Yelizaveta and Nadejda. They haven't seen her either. And Nadejda doesn't quite understand why she's gone running off — she says it doesn't make sense, even by Rose's standards. She says she'll try and read."

"She'll try and _read_?" Valik asked disbelievingly. "And what does she think that'll do?" Anton frowned slightly.

"It's helped in the past," he said pointedly.

"Has it really?"

A moment of silence passed. Valik sighed and turned to the three youths behind him.

"Any ideas?"

This time, the girl spoke up.

"She's looking for Dimitri, isn't she?" she asked. Her voice was shaky, nervous, unstable.

"We don't know," Valik replied.

"—She basically just ran off. She was fine one minute, and the next, she left," Anton added.

"And now we can't find her," concluded the guardian who had spoken earlier. Valik shot him a look, which earned a frightened spew of muddled words and a hasty departure.

Valik sank into his chair.

"Where the hell is she?"

"Adrian," the girl whispered quietly. "Can't you find her?" The boy had been puffing heavily on a cigarette. Now he paused, frowning slightly. "Can't you talk to her?" the girl pleaded.

"She'd need to be asleep," he said, slowly. Then he shook his head and turned his attention back to his cigarette. Valik looked at the three confusedly. Adrian had paused again, and now stubbed out his cigarette on the table.

"I'd need to be asleep too," he declared, getting to his feet. "I need to sleep." Nobody moved; nobody said anything. The boy Adrian rolled his eyes. "Can I sleep?" he enounced slowly. Valik nodded, still bewildered.

"Of course. Anton?"

The boy glanced pleadingly at Valik, before sighing, and muttering something crude under his breath. To Adrian, he said,

"Fine. Follow me."

*

Just before I woke up, I felt a sort of alien probing in my mind. In my dreamless sleep, a silhouette appeared. It was too dark to make out any faces. The anonymous figure was trying to say something.

I reached out, begging for the moment to last longer, but the images slipped away and disintegrated before me.

I woke up to darkness, yet again. Though this time, somewhere in the void, I heard voices.

**

* * *

**

Hmmm. What do you reckon? Have I sped things up too much? If I have... oh well. Can't really change that. But I'd still appreciate your views :)

**Review?**


End file.
